Our Cuban Experience
The wonderfully short five hour flight to Varadero, Cuba was
to be only one of many pleasurable experiences on our Cuban vacation. The dates
we had chosen were April 22 – May 6. May is the start of the
“wet” season and is one of the two “transition” months
between the wet and dry seasons. However, we figured that with our trip
extending only six days into May, our chances of heavy rains would be fairly
slim and fortunately, we were right (or just very lucky!)
First off, if your main vacation criteria is the hot sun
overlooking crystal clear turquoise water lapping up repeatedly on beige,
powdery sand, you will be beside yourself in Varadero. Naturally, there are
many such locations in the world that offer such natural luxuries along with
swaying palms, tropical drinks and island music but as a vacation spot, there
are a few things that make Varadero distinctive. One of these features is
Varadero’s water. Cancun, with its beautiful stretch of beach can have
rather rough surf a lot of the time. Varadero’s waters are very calm, so
calm in fact, that until later in the day when the winds pick up, the water is
dotted with pedal boats, kayaks, catamarans and windsurfers. While we were
there, the pattern tended to be that the morning would be calm with only slight
movement in the water and a gentle breeze. One could easily swim way out
without fighting any current at all. By about three o’clock, the wind had
begun to pick up, luring lovers of heavy swells and stronger currents. At no point
though was it ever strong enough to get very tiring and at no point did it ever
lose its seductive way of drawing you back into it again and again. The water
temperature was sheer heaven.
Varadero’s beach is very clean and surprisingly, it
never got very crowded. There was always loads of open beach space everywhere.
Most hotel guests stayed around each hotel’s grouping of palapas so if
being out on the open sand is your preference, you’ll definitely have the
run of the beach. In my mind, palapas are so much than just a shelter from the
sun. They are really quite fascinating and certainly not to be found on all
tropical and sub-tropical beaches. It is wonderfully restful to lie underneath
one and admire the artfully woven leaves above your head. Palapas are strong,
well built and able to withstand extremely high winds and rain, not to mention
the hot sun beating down upon them day after day. Each one is such a beautiful
and natural fixture on the beach, completely blending in with its environment
while at the same time, offering that luxurious and decadent tropical feeling
that tourists pay thousands of dollars each year to feel. As we were there in
April and the beginning of May, our daily temperatures were 32 (90 Farenheit)
and 33 (91 Farenheit) degrees everyday. The sun was extremely hot between
1:00pm and 5:00pm so during these times, many preferred to be under or near
their palapas enjoying the breeze or in the water bobbing about.
Cancun vs. Varadero:
For those of you who may have been to Cancun, Varadero is
not a “strip” in the way that Cancun is. Cancun has many, many
hotels on medium sized properties that are one after the other after the other.
Varadero’s hotels are all side-by-side on the beach as well but because
the resorts are mostly very large, there’s more space between each one,
lots more foliage and open grounds. It’s not a “strip” in the
“cheesy” or super busy sense of the word. It’s much more
quiet and very laid back. Not a great place for partiers but great for families
and couples.
Here’s another thing to consider
“beach-wise” when choosing a hotel in Varadero:
You cannot walk from one end of Varadero beach to the other.
I believe it’s about 20kms in distance so even if there were no
obstacles, you probably wouldn’t want to. However, you CAN walk from the
western end (where more of the Budget-type hotels are) right up to the Varadero
Golf Course and the Bella Costa Hotel but no further. It was important to us to
be able to walk the beach regularly and see other hotels, especially when we
already spent so much time in our hotel, being an all-inclusive (as they all
are in Varadero). You need the change of scene. Right before the Varadero Golf
Course is the Bella Costa Hotel where we stayed. Our hotel was the “end
of the line” for walking as the golf course has a cliff that juts way out
over the sea and there is no beach area there to keep walking on. The golf
course is surrounded by a fence as well so you can’t enter it even though
you are right next to it. You have to go out on the street and take a bus over.
I’ll explain more about the bussing further down. On the other side of
the golf course (and bordering it) is the Melia Complex. The complex is made up
of a shopping centre in the middle and the two five star Melia hotels on either
side. These hotels are very beautiful and as I recall from the brochures, much
more expensive than the Bella Costa and most others. I wanted to know if they
offered higher quality food for the money (in which case it would be worth it)
but from what I could see (on the menus), it was a lot of the same type of
stuff. The hotels, as I say, are beautiful with lovely pools and beach areas
but what I didn’t like was that the “Melia” beaches are cut
off from the “main” part of Varadero beach (where we were) so
walking long stretches of beach is NOT an option when/if you stay at the Melia
hotels. I didn’t like that aspect of it – too restrictive. I
believe that if memory serves correctly, each of the two hotels had their own
patches of beach so even THEY didn’t appear to share beaches. I’m
sure you could visit back and forth as it is all one complex but they
aren’t physically connected.
No matter how hot Varadero beach gets, there is an
absolutely delicious breeze twenty-four hours per day. It starts out with a
gentle breeze in the morning and accelerates as the day progresses. By
afternoon it can be quite strong but is always welcome as it provides wonderful
relief from the heat. The breeze easily takes away that “baking”
feeling when you’re out in the sun but can trick you into thinking that
you’re not getting as much sun as you think you are. Don’t let it
trick you as you’ll pay dearly later. By late afternoon, the breeze calms
down somewhat but is ever-present throughout the evening which is just heaven.
The Bella Costa Beach Resort & Villas:
Again, we stayed at the Bella Costa Beach Resort &
Villas (formerly an LTI hotel until March ’02). I researched it
thoroughly prior to making the decision as I’d been able to find a fair
amount of information on the internet mostly from travel forums and various
pictures people had taken. I had read that the further east you go on Varadero
beach, the better the beach. The Bella Costa on the map seemed to be just east
of the “middle” of the northern coast and close to the two
five-star Melia hotels considered to be the best on the strip. This seemed a
pretty good guarantee of being on a “good” stretch of beach and it
definitely turned out to be the case. My partner and I walked “our”
stretch of Varadero beach almost everyday so I became pretty familiar with it
and even checked out some of the other hotels. At the western end of the beach,
you will find more of the budget hotels. I believe that the
“Hotetur” hotels are among these budget ones and are mostly (if not
all) at the western end. There is no “bad” part of Varadero beach.
The entire beach is gorgeous and the water is no different from one end to the
other. The only difference that I could see was that the beach is much narrower
at the western end (such as in Cancun) so that it does seem more crowded. As
you go further east, the beach itself is much broader and expansive and
consequently less crowded. The “budget” type hotels at the western
end appeared to be perfectly nice as far as I could see. All the hotels have
lovely pools and nice beachfront. It seemed to me that in Varadero when you pay
more for a four or five star hotel, what you are paying for is a larger, more
“impressive” swimming pool, often free-form instead of your
standard rectangle or kidney shape. You are also paying for much lusher
grounds. The higher-end resorts tend to be extremely lush, with palms trees
everywhere and exotic plants and flowers. The budget resorts are more concrete
in that sense which of course would cost much less to maintain. With the higher
end establishments, you are also paying for more facilities as you’d
expect. There is usually more choice of on-site restaurants and bars, perhaps a
gym, a hair salon, a little market etc…
Varadero’s food:
The biggest and by far the most important thing that paying
more will give you in Varadero is better food. I think most people will tell
you that Cuba is not famous for good food. You will certainly get your
nutrients and you will not starve as there is plenty of it. However, that
feeling of satisfaction that North Americans are so accustomed to having after
just about every meal is completely absent in Cuba. This is highly unfortunate
as good eating is for most of us a big part of an enjoyable vacation. I
don’t think we realized just how big until we’d been there awhile
and were really having trouble with some of the food. For one week, it
wouldn’t be that big a deal but we were there for two and by about day
ten, we were having strong cravings for anything else but what was available to
us. Having said that, we were in a beautiful place with a fantastic beach and
ocean and we certainly couldn’t get that at home so we enjoyed all
the wonderful things that Varadero DID offer.
Paying extra for a four or five star will not get you great
food but it will be among the best that is offered and there will be a better
choice of it. Even the famous “Dupont Mansion” formerly owned by
the Dupont family has a bad reputation for its food. The mansion is beautiful
and is a must-see but as I understand it, the U.S. $18.00+ entrees are nothing
to write home about. It doesn’t seem to matter where you go. Great food
just doesn’t seem to exist in Cuba. There are a few little eateries in
the town of Varadero but they all seem to offer the same bland fare.
The Bella Costa is rated by some tour operators as a 3+ and
by some as a 4. In Cuba, it is rated as a 5, I believe. The Bella Costa had one
buffet restaurant, 3 a la carte restaurants and one of the a la carte
restaurants was also a buffet restaurant by day. The buffet food was not great
but acceptable. Two of the a la carte restaurants were dreadful but one, the
“Italian” Don Alfredo restaurant was fairly good comparatively
speaking. My strong recommendation is PAY THE EXTRA AND GO HIGHER END. Even if
you don’t care about all the other things that high-end will give you
such as the facilities you may or may not use, do it so that you can at least
enjoy decent food for even then, it won’t be anything to write home
about. This seems to be everywhere in Cuba as our gastronomic experiences in
Havana proved to be no different.
Tipping in Varadero:
Tipping was a funny one. We were told that tipping is
optional but it turned out that yes, this is true, if you don’t mind
feeling like a cheapskate. We did tip and at every meal. How much we left
really depended on the level of service as it was so changeable. One day it
would be amazing and the next, you wondered if the staff even saw you. Quite
inconsistent. We’d leave U.S. $1.00 for poor service, U.S. $2.00 for
“satisfactory service” and U.S. $3.00 or $4.00 for exceptional
service. This may not seem like a fortune but keep in mind that we’d
already paid $2369.00 each for our trip and for every U.S. dollar we’d
leave, it was $1.60 Canadian.
We bought eight t-shirts to give away at the end of the trip
as gifts to certain people (as was recommended) and for the maid, we brought
several scented soaps in various colours. We’d leave the maid U.S. $1.00
each day plus a soap. She seemed very pleased and thanked us a few times, left
cute cards etc… At the end, we gave her a t-shirt as well and to certain
other staff members who we got to know quite well. Our maid did almost nothing,
actually. She made the bed and brought fresh towels in and that was about it. She
was very charming though and we enjoyed talking to her. It was one of many
opportunities for me to use my limited Spanish. As far as tipping went, you
really should tip as these people are paid very little. My feeling is that more
of my $2369.00 should be going to the service people at the hotel but
obviously, I have no control over that.
Currency:
Currency is an interesting issue in Cuba because there are
three currencies.
The U.S. $ used EVERYWHERE
The Cuban peso only usable by Cubans
The convertible Cuban peso
In Cuba, tourists use only the U.S. dollar. Most items that
you buy are on the dollar. $1 or $2 or $3 etc… Because of this, you will
end up with very little change when you leave. The change that you will have
though are convertible pesos. They are equivalent in value to U.S. dollars but
are of no use outside of Cuba. I believe you can exchange them back but
you’ll have so little, you’ll probably just leave them for the maid
(as we did) or for whomever. When you buy something in U.S. dollars,
you’ll get convertible pesos back if you have change coming back. As I
said though, most things are priced right on the dollar. Bargaining is easy as
you’re not converting in your mind as you do with Mexican pesos but as
people have little there just as in Mexico, I don’t have the heart to do
much bargaining. My partner and I are far from rich but we are comparatively
speaking.
Getting around Varadero:
Getting around the area of Varadero is a snap.
There are little moped open-car thingys all over the place
(there’s one in my pictures. See link at the end). There are cabs
everywhere but the cheapest are the buses.
From the Bella Costa hotel to the little town of Varadero,
(4kms away), it’s U.S. $4.00 by cab (some people we met took a cab). We
grabbed a bus and the buses are only U.S. $1.00 each no matter how far up or
down the strip you’re going. You get to know which ones are the public
buses as they’re pretty tired and old-looking. There are tons of buses
everywhere of all different shapes, sizes, and in different kinds of condition.
Generally, the older ones are the ones you hail down anywhere on the side of
the road. If it’s not the right “type” of bus, you’ll
know as they’ll just keep on going. Sometimes though, a Cubanacan (tour)
bus will stop if he’s not carrying anybody. Just give him a buck and
he’ll drop you wherever. Transportation is a huge problem in Cuba and gas
is very expensive so drivers of all kinds are encouraged to give people rides.
Hitch-hiking by locals is very much encouraged and tour buses will often pick
up a couple of people here or there and drop them further down the line. On our
trip to Havana, our driver stopped and picked up a couple of older ladies in
Matanzas on the way to Havana. As a tourist though, I’d imagine you’d
be expected to give a dollar no matter what and they should expect that of us
as we’re not the ones suffering from THEIR transportation and gas
problems. We took a bus a few times, once was to the little town of Varadero.
There isn’t a lot there. Some of the budget resorts are right in the
town, most on the beach. There is a little craft market on the main street and
generally, it’s enjoyable to just walk around and explore, see the local
homes, buy beer from a local bar and walk around on the street with it.
For partiers, I think Varadero (the whole area in general),
would be somewhat of a dissapointment. I’m 34 and although I used to love
clubs and going out dancing constantly, it doesn’t interest me anymore
and I look more for a quieter place now. I had a blast in Cancun in my twenties
when I WAS into all that as Cancun is totally geared to it. Varadero is not.
There are two main discos in Varadero. One is called La Bamba and the other is
La Rhumba (go figure). They are on either side of the Bella Costa hotel where
we stayed. One is right next to the golf course (by the hotel) and the other is
in the LTI Tuxpan Hotel right next to the Bella Costa. I would NOT recommend
the LTI Tuxpan Hotel at all. I’ll talk about that more later when I
discuss some of the other hotels. I can’t remember which club is at which
location but they are apparently the two main spots in Varadero to party. At
one of them you pay U.S. $10 and then drink all you want. I’m not sure if
they both work this way. You can walk from one to another (about a ten minute
walk) on the little “inter-hotel” road. At the Bella Costa, the
“El Mirador” restaurant right on the beach became a disco every
night as well. It must have done okay because the music went on until about 2am.
I got used to it and if it got to be too much, we’d close the sliding
glass doors and crank up the air-conditioning and then you could barely hear
it.
There were also shows put on every night in the resort
outside by the pool bar and many guests would come and congregate. The show
would start with the same medley of dance tunes every night and the
“M.C.” would come running out all hyped up. The shows are
amateurish but the performers obviously love what they do and they really give
it their all so you have to give them credit. Most of the shows were rather
cheesy, going from ballerinas in nightgown dancing to a very strange melody to
a cheesy newlywed style game with they would get the audience participating and
joining them up on stage. One night, however, they staged an African show with
unbelievable costumes, drums and incredible rhythms. It was amazing and had I
known, I would’ve brought my camera out to watch that night. We usually
sat on our balcony and watched a bit of each show as we were fortunate enough
to be able to see the stage from there. (Room #290 – Bella Costa).
Tours:
There are a tons of tours you can take on the island. You
could easily spend a fortune. We took the overnight tour to Havana and we went
to see the dolphin show in Varadero and swam with the dolphins. To give you an
idea of how much money to bring, we converted $900.00 Canadian which came out
to $558.00 U.S. and we spent it all plus about another $100.00 U.S. that we put
on Visa. Remember to make sure that you have U.S. $20.00 on you (each person)
to leave the country. You go nowhere if you don’t pay this. First you
check in, then you go to a different window to pay the U.S. $20.00.
The 2 day trip to Havana includes the following: (cost at
the end)
(We did the Friday and Saturday after arriving. We figured
this way, we’d have a week to enjoy the resort and by then, we’d
probably want the change of Havana – worked out great). You HAVE to go to Havana.
You will be taken to and from Havana in a beautifully
air-conditioned “greyhound” style coach bus. The trip is about 2
hours with a stopoff at a roadside bar for a few minutes. There, you can
stretch your legs, have a beer and listen to the Mariachi band play (not sure
if they are referred to as Mariachi in Cuba but you know what I mean). On the
drive, you’ll learn much about the island. Our tour guide was Eduardo and
he was great. Very informative, good sense of humour, overall nice guy.
Upon arrival in Havana, you are driven around in the bus for
a bit of learning about the city and you’ll spend a bit of time walking
around the old town.
Lunch is included at a local restaurant (Pizza Nova –
some of the best food available)
Dinner at the hotel is included and one drink ticket (buffet
dinner). You will stay at the Habana Libre hotel right downtown (used to be
Hilton), this is a lovely hotel with a fantastic location or three is another
(less fancy) one that you might stay at. Which one you stay at determines
whether or not your lunch is included the next day. Breakfast is included the
second day regardless but lunch, as I mentioned, depends on the hotel you were
at. We were at the Habana Libre and paid our own lunch the next day. We were
glad it worked out this way as we really like a cushy hotel plus it had a
fantastic pool (also in the pictures).
Your cost also includes the big “Tropicana Show”
in Havana. We didn’t go as I was feeling a little bit off that day.
We’d arranged to not go beforehand which drops the price U.S. $40 each as
well. My partner didn’t really care one way or the other so we walked
around Havana that night exploring. It’s very dark – no
streetlights but it’s very safe. From everything I heard, I would say GO
TO THE SHOW! I would’ve had I been feeling better. It’s a Cuban
National Treasure of sorts and I was told by other tourists that it’s
like a BIG Vegas show. I believe there are 200 dancers and it’s a huge
spectacle. The guys like it as there’s a lot of booty shakin’
goin’ on! You also get a big bottle of rum put on each table (included, I
think).
The second day in Havana included buffet breakfast in the
hotel (again, not great food but certainly edible – some stuff is not too
bad. Wonderful freshly-squeezed orange juice there though and it’s
bottomless. I had about 4 glasses). After breakfast, you’re pretty much
free to walk around and explore the old town (amazing place) and visit the
craft market. Buy everything here that you want as it’ll likely be your
last chance to see this much stuff. I wasn’t wild about a lot of it but
they had great little wood boxes for about U.S. $3 or $4. I wish I’d
bought more. I think we bought three. We had lunch at an Italian place –
not expensive – so-so food. ‘Can’t remember the name.
Cost: U.S. $159.00 each
Cost without the
show: U.S. $119.00 each
If you don’t want to do the overnight tour or the
Tropicana Show, you can pay U.S. $63.00 each and take the Havana Historia
one-day tour where you’ll see the city and learn lots. Keep in mind,
it’s 2 hours each way so it’ll be a long day but cheaper if
you’re on a tighter budget.
Swimming with dolphins is U.S. $59.00 each which includes
the ½ hour dolphin show. This was so worth it as we’d never swum
with dolphins. If you haven’t, it’s a “gotta do once”
kind of experience. It really is. They appear to be very well treated –
fed lots of fish and they’re such beautiful, gentle creatures. I
didn’t want to leave them. You pay $5.00 if you want to bring your own
camera in but it’s use at your own risk if it isn’t waterproof as
you’re on a floating dock. Don’t drop it! All the tourists are in
the water together so if you want pics with your own camera, one has to be out
taking pics regularly. We paid the $5.00 but then said “the hell with
it’ and didn’t bother using it. Instead, we paid the U.S. $10.00
each for a shot of each of us with the dolphins – one dolphin on either
side of you kissing your cheeks! Great shot and it’s an 8.5” X
11”. Well worth it. The video of the whole thing is U.S. $35.00.
‘Didn’t bother – too expensive. Nobody else bothered either.
Up to you.
For U.S. $12.00 more ($70.00), you can swim with the
dolphins AND go on an all-day catamaran cruise which includes lunch (lobster,
chicken, pork, and fish) and all you can drink (beer and soft drinks, I think).
The cruise is from 8am – 5pm and you’ll visit Cayo Largo which is
apparently the most incredible beach. You can be way, way out and the water is
only up to your knees. We considered going as it wasn’t much more
expensive but by then, I’d had a LOT of sun and the idea of 8am –
5pm in the sun on a catamaran had lost much of its appeal. Apparently,
it’s a blast though.
What to bring to
Cuba:
I brought a whole arsenal of toiletries and medications.
Tylenol, Advil, sunscreens…ALL of these things are exorbitantly expensive
in Cuba. A regular size bottle of sunscreen can easily cost U.S. $14.00 or
more. The higher the SPF as well, the higher the cost. These are all luxury
items in Cuba. You don’t want to find yourself without them. I had a full
Safeway bag of toiletries (double-bagged) packed in my suitcase. Bring lots of
Solarcaine, Aloe Vera gel and Calomine lotion as well. No matter how smart you
are, you’ll over-do it in the sun at least once and you’ll be glad
for the relief. Calomine lotion is also great for mosquito bites and there are
some mosquitos at night. I also brought “Off” spray for that. I had
EVERYTHING. Getting sick far from home sucks but it’s even worse if you
don’t have a “collection” of things to take. I even brought
Tylenol 3’s with codeine that I had left over from some work done at the
dentist. Bring it all! Murphy’s Law and all that! Last but certainly not least, bring lots of small
gifts to give out. By the end of your stay, you will have met some really nice
people and they’ll have served you often by then. The gesture will be
much appreciated. Gifts for the maid are also greatly appreciated.
Safe in the hotel: (and more currency info)
The Bella Costa Hotel charges U.S. $2.00 a day to rent the
safe in the room. I’m sure they all charge about the same price. Our maid
was a real sweetheart and we left her lots of stuff each day so I didn’t
worry about anything like that. We tucked our cash away in a pair of pants deep
in a drawer just in case and never had a problem. We did not bother getting
Traveller’s Cheques as I’d read that the hotels charge a percentage
to cash them. We brought cash and our Visa and that was fine. To all the
Americans out there, just remember that Cuba will only accept non-American
issued Traveller’s Cheques credit cards NOT issued by American banks. There’s
a great website for American Travellers to Cuba. I can’t remember the
name now but I’ll try and find it and post it at the bottom of all this
stuff.
We met an older American lady who lived in Oregon. Since you
can’t fly direct to Cuba from the ‘states, she flew to Bellingham
and then on to Vancouver, hooked up with her friend in Vancouver (from Surrey)
and they flew to Varadero from Vancouver. Unfortunately, her bags didn’t!
The airport code in Bellingham in BLI but her luggage got marked BIL which is
Billings, Montana so that was where her luggage went. She contacted the airline
and they were going to pay the U.S. $600.00 to courier her luggage to her but
because of the U.S. – Cuba relationship, it wasn’t permitted so she
had to go through the whole vacation with none of her stuff. She had to buy
everything which was a real drag. Pack necessities in your carry-on.
Tourists:
Most of the tourists in Varadero are German. There were a
handful of Canadians, some French, Spanish and some Italians. We met only the
one American. But by far, Germans seem to be the most commonly found visitors
to Cuba and the LTI hotels are German-owned/operated in conjunction with the
Cubanacan Hotel Group who also run all the big tours all over the island.
Safety:
Cuba is SO safe because no kind of
“funny” business is tolerated. Because of this, you have nothing to
worry about. Each hotel has a security guard out front and back (by the beach)
and we left our camera, towels, books etc… at the beach under the palapa
all day. We’d go for lunch and leave our stuff or hang out at the pool
for a couple of hours. There was never any problem. Walking around Havana was
very safe.
“Wanna buy cigars?”:
Water: (Can I drink it?)
Prior to leaving, I had read (on the internet) that you
should not drink the water in Cuba. It said to drink only bottled water and
that there is some sort of microbe that Cubans are immune to that affects
foreigners. Then we got to the Varadero airport and the guide on the bus says
“The water in Varadero is clean and is completely safe to drink”.
Then she says “The water here is probably cleaner than the water in
Canada and I can say that because I’m from Montreal”. (She was
Cuban/Canadian). In Mexico, bottled water is cheap but in Cuba, it’s U.S.
$2.00 a bottle. We thought this was just the hotel price. Wrong. Everywhere in
Varadero charged the same price. We drink a LOT of water, especially when in
the sun so between the cost and what the lady had said, we drank the tap water
with no problems whatsoever. We bought a bottle of water, finished it, then
filled it up continually with tap water and chilled it in the room’s
fridge. I had felt “off” a bit before we left for Havana but I
think that was just all the sun and the dietary change. In Havana, we drank
only bottled water though as I didn’t know if her advice extended to the
rest of the island or not.
Service:
Service at the hotel was hit & miss, not consistent. As
North Americans, we are very spoiled by a high level of customer service.
Customer service as we know it is non-existent in Cuba. This is not to say that
you won’t meet some very nice people. We certainly did. It’s just a
different way of doing things. We had very little to complain about. One has to
accept what is different and enjoy the fact that it makes you appreciate what
you have at home more. Cuba offers tons to see and do and incredibly beautiful
beaches. Focus on what it does have. Furthermore, it has to be really tough for
the staff to wait on some of these tourists. I saw more than my share of people
who were demanding and obnoxious and some who thought that if they
weren’t drunk for a good chunk of each day, they weren’t getting
their “all-inclusive” money’s worth. There are people who
just leave their good behaviour at home. They figure that nobody will see them
again so they act as they please and this has got to be hard for staff to have
to deal with. If you’re respectful and polite, they’ll soon see
that you’re NOT one of “those” tourists.
We have lots of pics online of the Bella Costa Resort and of
Havana (mostly the old town).
Our pics can be seen at:
http://community.webshots.com/user/vancouverboy
Derek
Hi all,
I wanted to make a correction to my 6/6/02 posting. In my comments about the beach, I mentioned that at the Melia hotels, you cannot access any other beach area other than the Melia's private 2 strips of beach. It is true that the golf course separates the Melia from the rest of the beach west of the Melia complex but I've just been told by a friend who was there that apparently you can access the rest of Varadero beach to the east of the Melia complex. That same friend told me that the food at the Melia was amazing so although I'd looked at the menus and they didn't look that great, apparently the food is really good. The Melias are both five stars and quite expensive but after the food experience we had in Varadero, I would only go back to pay the extra and stay at the Melia with this being the case. Again, the food at the Bella Costa wasn't awful and the selection was good. The problem is that they don't have or don't use (or both) any seasonings or spices in their food so their just isn't much flavour. With some seasonings & spices and a good chef, good food would be easy to make and apparently, this is what the Melia hotels must have. So, trust me please! Spend the extra and then you'll have it all. The fantastic location of Varadero, charming people, phenomenal weather and good food! As I said before, feel free to e-mail me with any questions: derekgagnier@telus.net
Bon Voyage and bon appetit!
Derek
P.S. Lastly, we had the most wonderful travel agent book our trip. For you Vancouverites, book your trip through Cheng-Khim at the Flight Centre on Davie Street and you will be glad you did. We had originally planned on the Dominican Republic and after research what seemed like a thousand hotels and bugging Cheng-Khim by phone, it turned out that we couldn't get the flight for the time that we wanted so we had to scrap the Domincan Republic and start all over with Varadero. She was SO patient and pleasant and went through it all again with us.
Excellent
