Transatlantic Cruise
We departed the Port of Miami on April 19th for a 12-day Transatlantic cruise aboard the Norwegian Epic. There was one stop on Day 9 at Funchal, Madeira before the cruise ended in Barcelona, Spain.
Back on the ship!
And back in our deck chairs!
Travelers
I was just amazed at all the people with suitcases. They must have come off of the other cruise ship. I was expecting more people taking tours, not people with suitcases.
Money line
The next stop after passing the visa and health screen was the money line. They asked only one person per group stand in line for money. We learned about the money in our Cuba seminar earlier in the week. The locals have their own money they call CUPs (Cuban Peso). CUPs all have people on them, like Che Guevara, and Cuenfuegos on them. The money for tourists is a CUC, (Convertible Peso). CUCs all have landmarks on them.
In Havana!
To get off the ship we had to pre-buy a visa. We bought ours through the cruise line. As Americans We were required to do 8 hours of person-to-person cultural exchange before we could just walk around by ourselves. We could do it ourselves but we'd have to meticulously document it and keep records for 5 years. We booked it through the cruise line instead. When we got off the ship we passed by doctors and nurses that were watching for sick people.They asked us not to take picturesof them. Interestingly, the nurses were wearing very short skirts and white lacy hose.
Tour time!
Once the ship stopped it was time to meet up with our tour. We had to meet in the theater and wait for our tour to leave.
Classic cars
We could already see quite a few classic cars from the ship!
Photographers
Almost everyone had a camera or cell phone, taking pictures and video coming in to port.
Beautiful!
We were excitedly taking pictures of Havana but the sunrise was so beautiful it kept pulling our gaze away.
Turns
We took a zig zag course coming in to Havana. The distance from Key West and Havana is so short, even going as slowly as we could the Captain said we couldn't go slow enough so we took turns to waste time.
Day 9 - Havana!
So excited to go to Cuba today. Also, my birthday! You can see our route on the screen. It's just crazy!
Pretty!
It stayed pretty for a long time.
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![](https://www.tumblr.com/widgets/share/tool?posttype=photo&canonicalUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fsager.org%2Fkoken%2Ftags%2Fvacation%2Fcontent%2Fturns%2F&content=http%3A%2F%2Fsager.org%2Fkoken%2Fstorage%2Fcache%2Fimages%2F002%2F661%2FCuba-Cruise-Day9-2%2Flarge.1534285576.jpg&caption=%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%3Ca href="http%3A%2F%2Fsager.org%2Fkoken%2Ftags%2Fvacation%2Fcontent%2Fturns%2F" title="Turns"%3ETurns%3C/a%3E%3C/strong%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3EWe+took+a+zig+zag+course+coming+in+to+Havana.+The+distance+from+Key+West+and+Havana+is+so+short%2C+even+going+as+slowly+as+we+could+the+Captain+said+we+couldn%27t+go+slow+enough+so+we+took+turns+to+waste+time.%3C/p%3E){kind=link}
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Sunset pics
Bill took lots of pictures.
![](https://www.tumblr.com/widgets/share/tool?posttype=photo&canonicalUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fsager.org%2Fkoken%2Ftags%2Fvacation%2Fcontent%2Fnice-4%2F&content=http%3A%2F%2Fsager.org%2Fkoken%2Fstorage%2Fcache%2Fimages%2F002%2F654%2FCuba-Cruise-Day8-18%2Flarge.1534285525.jpg&caption=%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%3Ca href="http%3A%2F%2Fsager.org%2Fkoken%2Ftags%2Fvacation%2Fcontent%2Fnice-4%2F" title="Nice!"%3ENice!%3C/a%3E%3C/strong%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3EIt+was+a+baeutiful+sunset%21%3C/p%3E){kind=link}
Nice!
It was a baeutiful sunset!
![](https://www.tumblr.com/widgets/share/tool?posttype=photo&canonicalUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fsager.org%2Fkoken%2Ftags%2Fvacation%2Fcontent%2Fveendam%2F&content=http%3A%2F%2Fsager.org%2Fkoken%2Fstorage%2Fcache%2Fimages%2F002%2F650%2FCuba-Cruise-Day8-14%2Flarge.1534285517.jpg&caption=%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%3Ca href="http%3A%2F%2Fsager.org%2Fkoken%2Ftags%2Fvacation%2Fcontent%2Fveendam%2F" title="Veendam"%3EVeendam%3C/a%3E%3C/strong%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3EOur+ship%21%3C/p%3E){kind=link}
Veendam
Our ship!
![](https://www.tumblr.com/widgets/share/tool?posttype=photo&canonicalUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fsager.org%2Fkoken%2Ftags%2Fvacation%2Fcontent%2Fkissing-couple%2F&content=http%3A%2F%2Fsager.org%2Fkoken%2Fstorage%2Fcache%2Fimages%2F002%2F648%2FCuba-Cruise-Day8-12%2Flarge.1534285512.jpg&caption=%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%3Ca href="http%3A%2F%2Fsager.org%2Fkoken%2Ftags%2Fvacation%2Fcontent%2Fkissing-couple%2F" title="Kissing couple"%3EKissing couple%3C/a%3E%3C/strong%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3EThe+statue+looked+pretty+real.+I+doubt+people+walking+by+even+tknew+it+was+a+statue.%3C/p%3E){kind=link}
Kissing couple
The statue looked pretty real. I doubt people walking by even tknew it was a statue.