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Iberostar Varadero 11/03/2005
Reviewers Rating:  Excellent
As a background we have been to Cozumel, Cuba 3 times, Dom Rep, and Jamaica - so we have knowledge of the Carribean!
Well we got back from Iberostar Varadero on Sunday. Had a WONDERFUL vacation. The place is absolutely beautiful.
We flew out of Montreal on the 23rd of October. As we were landing in Varadero our plane was struck by lightening! Scared the crap out of us! The pilot came on and told us everything was fine! No problems at Varadero airport. Went right through customs and and found our Rep (Signature Vacations) - on the bus and headed out. We were offered drinks on the but which can be paid for with Canadian Money.
No problems checking in - we were in room 1832 with a view of the garden and a fountain with a bridge over it. It was very nice. Our first night (Sunday) it was extremely windy outside and the power went out 2 times but only for a few seconds. The howling was incredible from the windows!
The food was great, we ate in the Mediterranian restaurant - the calamari are fantastic there, "the Cuban" (which at first we did not know where it was), then found out it was in the pool restaurant. At night they turn that into the Cuban restaurant!
We had the Japanese twice! It was the best - we enjoyed all the a la cartes!
The buffet was good, Friday they had Lobster and shimp... FANTASTIC! There is pasta and pizza. Breakfast was basically the same thing - you can have omelets made for you on the spot, that was my sons favourite breakfast - 2 omelets with ham and bacon in it!
The entertainment was great - the star friends were very entertaining and the shows were very funny and the dancing was GREAT! They are so friendly and remember your name and your country! My daughter went to the kids club for a party one afternoon and won a shirt!
We won quite a few certificates for playing games during the day, like the archery (my son won), and bowling and ring toss and all kids of games - which means we went on stage a few times to receive it, and sang "We are the champions"!!
The pool was a bit cool... but once you were in it was great. We hung around the pool quite a bit at the beginning of the week and our beach was totally erroded by "Wilma". What a mess! They started working on it on the Tuesday and by Wednesday it was good so my kids could do the sand castle thing! The water was quite choppy all week.
We did the Dolphin Adventure - Myself and 2 kids (10, 13) went in. It was unbelievable, we were in the water for about 1/2 hour, they kissed you, you held their fin and they took you for a short ride a few times. They let you go out a bit and 2 dolphins put there nose on the bottom of your feet and they push you along then throw you out of the water! FANTASTIC!!
You get the 1/2 hour with the dolphins and then a 20 min show for 85 pesos per person.
The dolphin place is about 10 minutes from the hotel.
We took a taxi (15 pesos) to the flea market - spent a afternoon there, lots of stuff to look at.
The internet worked fine for me... you buy a internet card at the front desk for 10 pesos - you enter the code and password that is on the card on the computer and you are in. Be sure to use the computer that is against the window (the only one against the window)... It is the fastest one!
They don't seem to lock the computer room - so you can go in at any time with your card.
Our room was always kept clean, our maid was really nice! We left her 3 gifts and a peso everyday and she always said thank-you and left us a note one day! On our last day we left her all the stuff that we didn't want to bring back with us (toiletries, etc), and some clothes that my daughter was outgrowing.
Despite the fact that the water was NOT calm and VERY wavy, the beach was erroded and all the umbrellas were out to sea... we had a FANTASTIC time. I'm sure the beach is back to normal now. They were working on it all week!
Half way through our week my digital camera conked out on us and I lossed the pictures from the days before. So there are only about 26 pictures on webshots. When we get our other camera developed I will scan the pictures and put them on webshots also.
http://community.webshots.com/user/cathyvinok
CathyV
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