Tipping in Cuba as a Canadian
- By
- Aparna Patel
- |
- 1 Aug, 2023
- |
The second page you link also has a section on tipping, which talks almost exclusively in terms of CUC.
However, since the CUC is really a substitute for the US dollar it certainly used to be acceptable to use 1 USD bills. In fact, US dollar bills appeared to be more common than CUC notes, although I don’t recall seeing many US coins. (Note that I haven’t travelled in Cuba since 2000, so this advice may be out of date).
I believe you are mixing two pieces of advice.
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The best currencies are Euros, Canadian Dollars…
This is because of the trade embargo against Cuba from the USA. This means US dollars are very expensive to exchange in Cuba, so other currencies should be used. Euros are often said to get the best exchange rate.
This is not saying that vendors, hotels or restaurants will accept Euros or Canadian Dollars (some may–most likely won’t, or will charge more to accept them).
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Do not tip with coins of your own currency, because foreign coins can
not be exchanged in any countryMost banks and currency exchanges only accept paper bills, or sometimes coins of a sufficiently large denomination ($1CDN may or may not be accepted, depending on where you go–I’ve exchanged £1GBP and €1EUR coins without problems before).
Further, this is just common sense. If you were a waiter (in Canada) would you appreciate receiving a tip in Euros, or Cuban Convertible pesos? The first time it might have a novelty factor, but after that it just gets annoying. And if you’re working in a tourist trap (i.e. places you’re likely to go in Cuba) it would be annoying very quickly.
In summary: Take your Canadian dollars, then exchange them for Convertible pesos when you arrive. Then tip in Convertible pesos.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘
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