Upcoming Cuba trip: some practical questions

April 24, 2017 10:35 AM

I have a few questions about water and electricity in Cuba.

Electricity

Here is the best site I've seen on this topic.

What adapters do I need, coming from Canada? Looking for specific names or Amazon links. I don't want to take any chances. From what I've read the voltages may either be 110 or 220. We will be staying in one of the oldest resorts in Veradero, which are likely to have 110 volt plugs, but our hotel has a newly renovated section, which may have 220. Canada uses 120 volts. Oh - and I think we will stay a night in a casa particular in Havana as well.

I can't figure out what kind of plugs the outlets will take. Canada uses types A and B. Cuba apparently uses several additional kinds. The site above doesn't explain what kind of outlets we might encounter.

How many adapters do I need? I need to plug in 3 phone cables and a hair iron.

Water

The Canadian (government) traveller's info dictates that you should not drink the tap water, only eat fruit with a peel, and avoid ice and any salads. That really sucks (although we'll stick to bottled water for drinking). I have read a zillion reviews of our resort and when I search "sick", the results are all "we didn't get sick". I have also read that Cuban tap water is chlorinated and while kind of gross tasting, is perfectly safe. Like any other place, they occasionally have boil water advisories. I will bring immodium and we are all going to take the Dukoral vaccine (which sadly doesn't cover all strains E. coli). Is this reasonable enough?

Thanks! I've researched well, but if you have other practical advice that I may have missed I'd be glad to hear it.

posted by kitcat to Travel & Transportation (8 answers total)

I don't know/remember about the plug, but I did eat salads and had ice in drinks in Cuba, and wasn't sick. Neither was anyone else in the group I was with. None of us had taken any precautions because we weren't originally supposed to go to Cuba (long story).
posted by mumimor at 10:42 AM on April 24, 2017

I've been to Cuba 3 times - never heard that fruit & salad warning, and the only sickness I got was on the one trip where my whole group got slammed by some norovirus which by the timing we could only assume we picked it up on the plane ride from Miami.

Cuban hotel salad tends to be cabbage-based, with sliced cucumbers and carrots, and maybe tomatoes? Hardy vegetables, not delicate/labor-intensive lettuce. I don't remember what fruits were available, but I think it was similar - bananas, oranges, etc. I don't remember any issues with the tap water being undrinkable (except for one hotel that used mostly desalinated sea-water for the room taps, which was fine for showering but if you tried rinsing out clothing in it the clothes would reek like sulfur afterwards, so I stuck with bottled water for the taste.

And I agree with lalex regarding the bathrooms. The fancier hotels and restaurants will have a bathroom attendant keeping them stocked with paper & soap (be prepared to tip) but at other places you need to have brought your own supplies.

I don't remember bringing any adaptors; I used my iPhone as a camera the whole time, so I must have just been plugging it in with whatever was in he room.
posted by oh yeah! at 11:10 AM on April 24, 2017

Re: water, it really depends on where you go. At our resort, not only did everyone I ask assure me that the water was clean, but one of the handymen actually took me to the water treatment plant that was nearby (I'm a drinking water engineer, apparently this is how I vacation). They had quite a nice system! Also, lalex is right about pipes.

Anyway, I'd ask several people at the resort about the water.
posted by Paper rabies at 11:16 AM on April 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

In November of last year we stayed in casas in Cienfuegos, Havana, and Vinales. We used AC only for charging phones (so any 220 may have been automatically translated by our chargers) but all sockets were either B (mostly) or A (less).

We used a steripen on all of our daily water that we carried around, but did consume ice and "salad" in tourist-oriented restaurants with no problem.

As for bathrooms, always always always carry toilet paper, sanitizer, and change (0.25, 0.5). I don't remember any facility outside our casas that had TP, and the little bit you get from the attendants is close to useless.

If you have medical friends, get some Cipro just in case. Bring a halloween-sized bag of tootsie pops (the minature ones are fine) to "pay" for pictures and help on the street, or just for anybody you interact with - they are greatly appreciated.
posted by achrise at 11:22 AM on April 24, 2017

I just got back from 10 days in Havana. I stayed in a pretty basic Airbnb type place, (not a resort) and the only water-related precaution we took was drinking bottled water. I did eat fruit (even from roadside stands) drink beverages with ice, eat salad, etc, and did not get even a little bit sick. I wouldn't worry too much about water.

The outlets in the place we stayed were "Type A" so no adapter needed, though I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that outlets are not standard everywhere you go. I think if you get a "Type C"adapter though, it will work in a "Type L" outlet the same way a "Type A" would work in a "Type B" outlet.

Also, if you plan to bring any rum home and are flying through Havana, you will want to check the rum in your luggage rather than buy it at duty free and carry it on the plane. Apparently the duty free store in the Havana airport is missing some required information on the receipt, so even in the fancy sealed duty free liquor bag, we couldn't carry it on our connecting flight.

Have an amazing trip!
posted by mjcon at 12:02 PM on April 24, 2017

You can get hepatitis A from contaminated food (especially fresh fruit) and water, including ice, in many countries including Cuba. That may be the/a reason for those recommendations.

Have you considered being vaccinated for hepA (and B, if you haven't been already)?
posted by randomnity at 1:52 PM on April 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: (It was the health nurse performing those vaccinations that relayed the no-water recommendations, so it must be bacteria they are concerned about).
posted by kitcat at 2:12 PM on April 24, 2017

We stayed at a big Spanish-owned all-inclusive in Varadero and at the Hotel Nacional in Havana in September 2016. We used bottled water the whole time but did have ice and salads at both places.

I brought a simple non-voltage converting plug adapter since all of our electrinics had dual-mode 220/110 power supplies. No issues.

Staying at an older resort in Varadero? How much older, like one of the places from the 1920s, or one of the places further up the peninsula behind the checkpoint?

Also, do a Cuba keyword search on AskMe for several thouasand words about our trip, planning, questions and experiences. I think the primary thread is about cell service.
posted by mwhybark at 9:14 PM on April 24, 2017