Talk:Cuba

See also: Talk:Cuba/Archive

Formatting and language conventions For articles about Cuba, please use the 24-hour clock to show times, e.g. 09:00-12:00 and 18:00-00:00. Please show prices in this format: CUP100, and not 100 pesos. Please use American spelling.

Passport validity

The article states that passports need to be valid for 6 months past the end of your departure. The Government of Canada Travel website says it must be valid for one month (http://travel.gc.ca/destinations/cuba)

I added this information to the article, but I'm not sure if it's valid for anyone or just Canadians. 192.0.129.41 01:28, 7 March 2013 (UTC)

Banner

Possible replacement (maybe too stereotypical, but I think Che is the same). Jjtkk (talk) 15:59, 18 May 2013 (UTC)

Hi Jjtkk, I like your suggested banner. It doesn't seem like any one else here has an opinion on it so lets update it!? --Justvagabonding (talk) 17:38, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Getting rid of intermediate region level articles

The three intermediate region level articles (Central Cuba, Western Cuba, Eastern Cuba) are almost completely empty and useless, and will likely remain so for the forseeable future. Therefore, I propose following the example set with Germany, Poland, etc., getting rid of that hierarchical level altogether, leaving them only as visual divisions on the region section and map and linking directly to the provinces themselves from the country article. What say we? Texugo (talk) 14:15, 7 August 2014 (UTC)

Good idea. Pashley (talk) 01:51, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

I agree Texugo (talk). Doesn't seem like anyone here has any objections so go for it! --Justvagabonding (talk) 17:42, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

It seems that this was never done. I have proposed merging the provincial articles up to Eastern Cuba. I think the same should be done for Western Cuba. Ground Zero (talk) 02:58, 7 July 2021 (UTC)

Should be done to all Cuban regions in my opinion. SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta.wikimedia) 02:59, 7 July 2021 (UTC)

For Central Cuba, we have 12 city and other destination articles, which is where we would start talking about splitting it, but they are divided between 5 provincial articles, which is ridiculous. I can see merging that region, too. Ground Zero (talk) 03:08, 7 July 2021 (UTC)

I have made merger proposals for Western Cuba and Centeal Cuba along the same lines. Ground Zero (talk) 18:37, 7 July 2021 (UTC)

sources for this article

Here are several sources that can be used to add to this travel guide:

• The power of seduction in our everyday lives, Chen Lizra, TEDx Vancouver (and Chen Lizra's book on her travels in Cuba)

• Havana, Where Everyone Can Dance, Andre Vltchek, CounterPunch

• A five-part series of travel reports by Conor Kennedy:   Gardens of the Queen: Caribbean’s Last Pristine Coral Reefs (2014-06-21),   Preserving Cuba’s Oceans (2014-09-30),   Crossing Cuba in a Chinese Bus (2014-10-08),   500 Years After Columbus, Cuba’s Gardens of the Queen Still Pristine (2014-10-16)

IjonTichyIjonTichy (talk) 01:48, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

Article on Cuban tourism

around 2.8 million visitors every year, half of them from Canada Pashley (talk) 14:02, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

Major updates to getting around, money and internet

Hi all. After my recent trip to Cuba I have made some updates to 'Getting around', 'Money' and 'Internet'. These sections had many duplications and contradictions and information was often incorrect or misleading. I have listed all the changes below which I feel will not be controversial. It would be great if anyone hear could read through the changes and report back here if they think I have made a mistake.

'Getting around'

• Added general introduction about buses in Cuba
• Created subheadings to differentiate between Viazul, Astro and local buses
• Added a picture of a Viazul bus
• Added a general tip for finding a Viazul ticket offices are
• Included info of how you can wait for a late cancellation if the bus is full and there are no share taxis
• Changed the wording for foreigners ability to catch Astro buses. I appreciate that it may be possible, but previous wording indicated that it is easy. In my experience with basic Spanish I had no luck and either did the people I spoke to. I hope the new wording reaches a middle ground between indicating it is possible only for some.
• For the share taxi section, this needed a major clean up as there were duplications and contradictions that I guess have accumulated over time.
• I added more info on catching a share taxi like a local by just arriving at the bus station. Then I detailed information on how to reserve taxis with tourist info desks
• Added a picture of a typical truck that will pick you up when hitchhiking to make sure future travellers know what they are getting into. They are good fun however!

'Money'

• After having a fairly horrible experience of using the previous money section in Cuba and almost having to go straight back to Mexico because of no access to cash, I have spent quite a bit of time cleaning this up and adding more accurate info. This includes:
• Adding a new subtitle 'dual currency system' and making it clearer what each currency can be used for
• Major clean up of exchanging money. Previous links were broken, Aus dollar is no longer exchanged and added info about credit/debit card facilities at exchange houses
• Emphasized that MasterCard (non U.S. issued) is not a great card for Cuba as ATMs don't accept it and credit card terminals don't like it compared to Visa
• I spilt ATMs and credit cards into two sections. They are now 'ATMs' and 'Purchasing with a credit/debit card'. The previous wording had me believe that MasterCards were accepted at ATMs when in fact what they were trying to say was that MasterCards will work sometimes for paying for a restaurant meal! Caused me a fair bit of issues on my travels!

'Internet'

• Added 3 sub headings, finding WiFi, buying scratch cards, and connecting to the WiFi to make it clearer and easier to understand. Moved previous relevant under appropriate heading
• Added a picture of Cubans accessing the internet outside a hotel to give travellers a feel for what to expect
• Added info on the 3 ways to purchase a card i.e. at Government communication centre, hotels or off street venders.
• Added some trouble shooting advice if the log in screen does not automatically appear

--Justvagabonding (talk) 16:38, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

Suggestion to move train and plane schedules to separate pages

Hi all, can I suggest that we make two new separate pages that can be used to house train and aeroplane schedules/routes. While these are useful for the traveller, they make the Cuba page really long and it looks a bit weird. What do others think? --Justvagabonding (talk) 16:44, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

There previously was an article on Viazul or rather bus travel in Cuba which had rather detailed schedules. It was deleted with the argument that we cannot possibly provide up to date schedules. Given the near impossibility of internet access in Cuba (or so I've heard), we might reconsider "just linking to the primary source"... Hobbitschuster (talk) 21:35, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

Thanks Hobbitschuster. I agree, unless someone is willing to volunteer to update this let's just link to the source. The best website for trains looks to be Cuba-Individual, the same website as Viazul. What do you say, we delete this list and refer travellers to http://www.cuba-individual.com/e_horario.htm#train ? --Justvagabonding (talk) 17:28, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

It is two and a half years later now so the discussion has probably stalled or whatever, but just for the record I was suggesting the opposite of linking to an external website for people to get their schedules from given that WV is (should be) usable offline and Cuba has issues with virtually non-existing internet. Hobbitschuster (talk) 01:34, 11 July 2018 (UTC)

AeroCaribbean

I just edited out AeroCaribbean as it has been merged with Cubana de Aviacion (source:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Caribbean). I forgot to mention why I did it in my edit so I just thought I'd just let you know here. Bobbbcat (talk) 04:35, 4 November 2017 (UTC)

New US restrictions re Cuba

Swept in from the pub

Some articles might need updating:- https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/04/politics/us-cuba-travel-restrictions/index.html

ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 18:32, 4 June 2019 (UTC)

2021 currency reform

The CUC is being eliminated on 1 Jan 2021. The CUP is being fixed at 24 CUP = US$1, a change from the current 26.50 CUC = US$1. We don't know how things priced in CUC will be repriced, but inflation is expected. I suggest that we not multiply CUC prices by 24, but rather replace "50 CUC" by "the equivalent of US$50". Comments? Ground Zero (talk) 15:21, 30 December 2020 (UTC)

I assume that you meant CUP - US$ but it was never 26.50. BeardoCuba (talk) 05:39, 9 October 2021 (UTC)

Matanzas (province)

Matanzas (province) appears on the maps of both Western Cuba and Central Cuba, and is breadcrumbed from Western Cuba. I have removed it from Central Cuba. Ground Zero (talk) 10:38, 7 July 2021 (UTC)

Visa-free Antarctica

Supposedly, residents of Antarctica can visit Cuba visa-free for an unspecified period, according to a map just added to the article by User:Numberguy6. I think this has to be an error. Ikan Kekek (talk) 19:43, 26 September 2021 (UTC)

I was initially making those maps without Antarctica, but I was told that it looked weird and that I should include Antarctica. I colored it gray for "no data", since none of the other colors are gray. --Numberguy6 (talk) 19:54, 26 September 2021 (UTC)

But the legend is showing gray as meaning "Visa-free - unspecified period". If you change that to "no data", it'll be OK. If we're talking about different shades of gray, they're not different enough to be clear. Ikan Kekek (talk) 20:31, 26 September 2021 (UTC)

I thought that they were different enough, but if you would like, you can edit the map on Wikimedia Commons with a different color for Antarctica. --Numberguy6 (talk) 22:10, 26 September 2021 (UTC)

I'm not sure I know how to do that. Ikan Kekek (talk) 22:23, 26 September 2021 (UTC)

Then ask on the file talk page. --Numberguy6 (talk) 23:46, 27 September 2021 (UTC)

I take it, you don't know how to change colors? I'm a very busy man. I've literally spent all day (counting some breaks) since 8 A.M. grading lab reports, I still have 3 more to grade and I also have to create a lab report for tomorrow and Thursday. Your help is appreciated. Ikan Kekek (talk) 01:55, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

0800 UTC or EST? SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta.wikimedia) 02:14, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

Eastern Time. Ikan Kekek (talk) 05:09, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

@Ikan Kekek There is a way I know how to do it on Adobe Photoshop but my access has expired for some time and I've never really been bothered to renew it (I could if I need to) given it's been some years I've last been working with svg files day to day. I could renew it, but I'm not used to the newer interface. SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta.wikimedia) 07:06, 1 October 2021 (UTC)

The main map

The main map shows the provinces as they were up until 2010. La Habana province is now split between Artemisa and Mayabeque. How can we update that ? -- BeardoCuba (talk) 05:51, 9 October 2021 (UTC)

What happened to the pagebanner?

I don't see any. What happened? Ikan Kekek (talk) 22:51, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

I can see it right there. Lately, after saving an edit, I observe that the banner generally gets lost until I refresh the page. I don't know why, but maybe that was also what you experienced? Vidimian (talk) 23:25, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

The pagebanner was accidentally removed while Nathan868 updated the page. I've restored it, though. SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta) 23:30, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

I really needed a sleep and missed that. Thanks for fixing it. Vidimian (talk) 07:22, 22 September 2022 (UTC)