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Las Brisas Guardalavaca 12/14/2004
Reviewers Rating:  Excellent
We were a “family” of 9 (April 17-May1) travelling and we had a wonderful time on the beautiful island of Cuba. This is a very long review and hopefully, informative for those of you considering this resort.
FLIGHT TO HOLGUIN
We travelled Air Transat from Toronto on April 17, which was scheduled to leave at 5:15 p.m., the flight left approximately 30 minutes late due to a flat tire. Arrived at Frank Pais Airport in Holguin at approximately 9:00 p.m. and, as far as I could see, we were the only flight arriving at that time. Landing was a bit rough as we hit the ground pretty quickly, and with it being dark outside the landing took some of us by surprise (I supposed that is how they got the flat tire in Toronto). From what we could see the airport is clean and modern, but I would imagine it would be a little tight if there were multiple flights arriving at the same time. Make sure you have your tourist card filled out properly with no errors or obvious corrections and have your passport ready (they are extremely picky). Immigration was quick. They did not stamp our passports, so if you want your passport stamped, you will have to ask the Immigration clerk to do so. Immigration will hand you back the other half of your tourist card. Whatever you do, DO NOT lose this piece of paper (put it back into your passport immediately), you will need it to get out of the country. Luggage arrived quickly on the carousel and we headed out of the airport to meet the World of Vacations rep. Had to wait at the airport until approximately 11:00 p.m. before the World of Vacations bus left as they would not leave until every passenger was on the bus. Tired and irritable, to say the least, our travelling party was, for the most part, very patient, but hey, we are on vacation, so don’t sweat the small stuff.
Arrived at the resort at 12:30 a.m. and checked in. After having a discussion with reception about the location of the rooms (I did request certain rooms from the hotel’s reservation department), we dropped our luggage in the rooms and headed to the 24-hour bar (hotel side) for much needed refreshment. While we were having a refreshment, we met Owen who proceeded to tell us about the wedding he was there for. For anyone reading this review, if you were there during the time that we were, you probably at some time bumped into Owen (from Calgary).
Please do not forget that you have to pay U.S. $25.00 for departure from Cuba. You should put the money with your passports, tourist cards, wallets, etc. into a safety deposit box. Hint: there were 7 of us using the safety deposit box in one room and everything fit extremely well. The charge is U.S. $2.00 per day and if there is a group going, then I would highly suggest getting one box. We usually have the key in another traveller’s room for safekeeping. It’s a little bit of a hassle at times (for the person holding the key), but well worth the savings in U.S. dollars, otherwise, everyone would have been paying U.S. $28.00 for a 2 week stay.
ROOMS
Personally, I feel the rooms in the villa section need a little updating (i.e. a coat of paint, perhaps a new bedspread and matching draperies would be good). The closet door in our room kept coming off the track and thankfully my husband is extremely handy and kept fixing it. All in all, after a good nights sleep, the room was not that bad the next day and was very handy to all the amenities and really, how long do you really stay in your room. We also enjoyed being on the ground floor as we could walk out to the beach, but to be perfectly honest, my preference is the upper floors. Our room was ocean view (room 6103) and only steps to the ocean, directly in front of the wedding chapel. Needless to say, had many “patio parties” with the family while we were watching the many weddings during out 2-week stay.
As I said, we were on the ground floor and my husband’s sister and mother were directly above us (6203) and they had an awesome view from their balcony. My husband’s brother and nephew were in 6205 (another lovely view) and my husband’s sister and husband were in 6104. A friend of the family was in 6105 (who is part of the family).
There appeared to be a water leak somewhere along the pipes in our section and was leaking from the ceiling into our bathtub, no problem, tell the front desk (over and over again) and place bets as to when they are going to fix it. Then it stopped for a few days (perhaps they fixed it) and then started up again, but what the heck, we are on vacation and it’s not like the ceiling caved in on anyone or anything. The room next to us (my other sister-in-law and brother-in-law) had the same problem and they also had a small river running down the wall in the closet area, after many complaints to the front desk, I don’t believe anyone ever came around to fix it. Oh well, just put a towel down to soak up the water, we are on vacation. Having a shower was a real treat (pressure is extremely good, kind of like being hit by a fire hose) and also be very careful of the deep step into the tub. I slipped on the mat one evening and had a terrible bruise on my knee. The tubs are very deep and make sure that you push on the “suction” mat prior to getting into the tub (if you don’t have a suction mat, please request one). Two other members of our party fell; one fell in the tub, and one fell out of the tub (imagine that).
RESORT GROUNDS
In a word, beautiful. Our villa gardener, Roberto, who is also the person who takes care of the bird sanctuary, became a very good friend to us during our stay. It was quite hard for all of us to say goodbye to him on our last day at Las Brisas. He worked extremely hard at keeping the resort looking as beautiful as it did. The flowers and water fountains were always an added delight as we were first discovering the resort. There are many species of plants that have beautiful flowers. Don’t forget to check out the John Lennon garden.
They keep and are very successful at breeding budgies, lovebirds and cockatiels. Our new friend Roberto takes care of the birds and showed us the new babies. We also saw the new babies grow up, from walking on the ground to flying rather quickly. Amazing. Thank you Roberto, you are wonderful. A very special memory for us.
Every day we discovered something different. My husband and brother-in-law found a hummingbird nest half way down the boardwalk (in between the main hotel and villa section) and we unfortunately didn’t get to see the eggs hatch, but it was an experience watching the mama hummingbird sit in the nest as hundreds of people walked by every day.
WATER
The ocean water was quite cool, but after you got in (some days it took a while), it was extremely refreshing. Don’t forget your water shoes, they are needed in some spots, others they are not. Someone asked our tour rep what the weather was like and she replied “lots of windy”. We quoted her on a daily basis. It was quite windy, but the sun was shining and that’s all that mattered to us. A few of us snorkelled, but were not as impressed with the fish as when we were in Mexico. All in all, great fun. The pools, well, we are beach people, so we didn’t really stay at the pool area except for a few days because there was “lots of windy” and we were really getting sand blasted, most days we referred to this as exfoliation. The water in the villa pool is cool as well, but was warming up prior to our departure. The main hotel pool was warmer than the villa pool and we preferred the main pool, except for the pool swim-up bar – need I say more?
FOOD
Like everyone says, you don’t go to Cuba for the food. The food in general was good and there was always something for everyone's taste. I would have to say that the breakfast was probably the favourite of the travelling party, while some of them would say it was lunch that was the best. There are two buffet restaurants (one on main hotel side and one on villa side) and they both have omelettes, bacon, sausage, hard boiled eggs, pan fried potatoes, cereals, pastries, fruits, cheese, yoghurt and toast and, quite surprisingly, sometimes cauliflower, carrots or brussel sprouts (couldn’t figure that one out, unless, of course, they were from the night before (haha) -- they do like to recycle at Las Brisas. The white cheese is like our mild cheddar, and the orange cheese is like our old cheddar – very strong. Never tried the tuna sandwiches or the grilled cheese though. French fries were awesome, especially at the main 24-hour restaurant. Always fresh and wonderfully hot (about the only thing that was hot, not lukewarm). The little white cocktail onions were amazing with the fried chicken. At the main hotel they also have plates of fruit during the day and at lunch plates of salad with cabbage and tomatoes (or so it looked) in the fridge by the popcorn stand. We never did try that. The popcorn is very plain - no butter or salt, you have to add the salt. We ate at the villa buffet most of the two weeks we were there, but we did eat at the main hotel a few times. We all agreed that the quality and selection were a little bit better on the villa side.
Dinner was spent at the villa buffet and we went to the main hotel buffet a couple of times. They served pretty much the same stuff, except one night there was this huge fish at the villa buffet, but wasn’t identified (scary). We saw them roast pigs for the buffets as well. I found their pork chops and chicken to be o.k. Fish was hit and miss for some people - it never seem to be labelled as to what kind of fish it was. The ketchup was fine, but brought our own down (Heinz) as well as our own hot sauce (west Indian). Try having the pasta less pasta (if you are on the Atkins Diet), just have the veggies and ham cooked up in the tomato sauce and add Parmesan cheese and it’s absolutely delicious. As far as the food goes, I would suggest that they have more grilled chicken since most people tend to eat a lot of it. Most of our travelling party didn’t try the “ham” burgers, but my sister-in-law did and liked them. I myself couldn't get used to the "ham" in the burgers. And what about those donuts? They were heaven! The actual name of these particular donuts are “Churros”. Make sure that when you get the donuts from the donut maker (really nice guy) that they are fresh and hot. The day we discovered them at the main hotel (by the 24 hour bar) we were told that it would become our staple for the duration of our trip. Obviously, that tourist did not like the food at all. We walked to the hotel side every day to get those marvellous donuts. Mmmm, I can just taste them now; wish I was there now to take a walk to the main hotel. The made to order pizza at the main hotel 24-hour bar was awesome. We had them quite a few times for lunch. My mother-in-law especially liked them.
The seafood ala carte seemed to be everyone’s favourite. We went there twice. We tried the lobster the first time and it was a little dried out, but the second time it was a much better. The chicken is quite tender and the salad and root soup was very good. The Italian Restaurant was just so so. We tried the steak in the Italian and it was very tender, but the Caesar salad was extremely wilted (could not figure that out as we were the first sitting – 6:30 p.m.). The soup we ordered was good, but again luke warm. The shrimp cocktail was shrimp chopped up in some type of thousand island sauce with lettuce, interesting to say the least. Just remember that you can order as many items on the menu as you want.
The food did become repetitive after a 2-week stay, as with many all-inclusive resorts, but my only real complaint about the food would be that they didn’t seem to know how to keep it warm or even luke warm. Sometimes the soup (which was always delicious) was luke warm and other times it was warm. It was hard to find soup that was hot. Try putting the cheese they have at the side of the soup pot (villa side) in your soup, delicious!
When going to the ala cartes, I would suggest going the first day to the main hotel to book your dinners. We waited a couple of days to book, which we know better not to do. We were lucky to get the sittings we wanted, but not the days.
ENTERTAINMENT
The entertainment at night was good, although a little confusing to figure out the how the program worked. The house band, Nuevas Olas, we found to be extremely good. Sometimes the house band/show was at the villa side and sometimes it was at the hotel side....we also found out that sometimes it starts at 8:30, sometimes not! Also sometimes they don’t even show up. I guess it’s the way of the islands. Don’t be afraid to purchase the CD’s from the bands or in Guardalavaca. They quality is very good. We purchased a CD from Nuevas Olas and the quartet, the band that plays for the weddings, Los Panchitos. They were so sweet one day when we were having a patio party, that they came over a serenaded my mother-in-law and the rest of the family.
OUTSIDE OF RESORT
We met a local Cuban and he was a very nice man. He was the artist that did the bride and groom by the wedding chapel (excellent job Reinaldo) out of cement and faux finishes. His work is extremely meticulous. He also did the boat bar at the Atlantico hotel beach (check it out on one of your walks along the boardwalk on your way to the Guardalavaca market). We watched him and his colleagues for at least 5 days making this beautiful wedding sculpture (beside the wedding gazebo). Reinaldo became our semi-quasi tour guide and also became our friend. It too was hard to say goodbye on our last day. Thank you Reinaldo for making our stay in Cuba a memorable one. Another special memory for us all.
The “men” in the group rented mopeds (and one of my sister-in-laws) and rode to the countryside. Brave souls, if you ask me. My other sister-in-law, my mother-in-law and I took a taxi. Our taxi driver, Hermes, thought we were a “crazy family” (smile) and we had a wonderful day together. Just think of the Griswold family vacation movies and that would be us on vacation, total chaos in trying to get a day trip organized, again, great fun and lots of laughs. In searching for these mopeds, we must have driven from Guardalavaca to the main hotel and then back to Guardalavaca at least 4 times. Hermes just kept laughing and telling us we were a crazy family. The price of the cab was U.S. $15.00 for 2 hours and then U.S. $4.00 per hour after that. We wound up giving him U.S. $30.00 for the day for three people. When everything got sorted out we discovered that all the mopeds should have been rented from Mike (across from Pizza Nova in Guardalavaca) as he has the best prices and the best mopeds. He will provide you with a helmet if you request one. Make sure you go before 11:00 a.m., otherwise he might be gone for lunch and you would have to wait quite a while for him to return. He charges U.S. $18.00 for three hours or so. We didn’t think that was such a bad deal. Do not go to the rental place down the street from Mike, their bikes do not work. The men checked them out and only one was barely working out of 10. The look good, but don’t work.
A must is also to get out into the countryside to see the local Cuban people, as this is a very touching experience. We went to a school in Los Chorros Maita (second school down the road), just passed the Indian Village and the Archaeological Indian site. We stopped at the first school, thinking this was the school where my brother and sister-in-law went a couple of days before and when we were waiting for the rest of the travelling party (they were on mopeds, we were in a cab) it turned out it was the wrong school. When everyone caught up to us, we travelled down the road a bit to the school they had visited earlier. The children came running and then the teacher invited us in. It was so sweet. Those children sat very quietly as the teacher gave them the presents we brought (i.e. many school supplies, tissue, etc. and some food). Always remember…a dollar or two goes a long way for these people and always keep in the back of your mind that we are truly the fortunate ones, so be generous whether it is money, food or clothing.
We did have a few instances, mostly at the market in Guardalavaca, where people were asking for 1 dollar, we gave money to this woman and her children in Guardalavaca. We bought her daughter some cookies and gave her approximately $2.00. Also on another one of our excursions, I believe it was on our way back from Guardalavaca, we were hit by these 3 little boys, what salesmen, let me tell you. We wound up going back to the resort, picking up some things from the room and gave it to them. Their mother was ever so grateful. Then went back into Guardalavaca and bought some cookies, etc. for the children, but they were gone by the time we came back. We walked back to the resort, via the boardwalk, and proceeded to give some cookies to our friend Roberto.
SERVICE
Extremely efficient, there were only a few times we encountered attitude, but just ignored it (after all, we are on holidays). We are not really people that complain that much, except of course, if you think your bathroom roof is going to fall down into the tub (or on your head!). Jesus, the bartender at the Patio de lous Artistas (beach bar and seafood restaurant in the evening) on the villa side, seemed a bit unfriendly, we put it down to him being shy. He finally warmed up to us and we got him to smile. He speaks very good English. The reason I know this is he asked why we had lots of ice in wine and lots of ice in beer. I told him it makes it a lighter drink. He then told me he did know about our Labatt’s Blue beer and various light beers.
DEPARTURE
Departure from Frank Pais airport also went very quickly as we were the first bus at the airport and the only flight departing at this time. A departure tax of U.S. $25.00 per person is required and you can only pay in U.S. cash. The departure tax is paid immediately after check-in (to the left of where you check in) and from there you go through immigration and then customs’ inspection. The departure lounge was reasonably clean and comfortable. There is one duty free shop and a few small kiosks selling souvenir items, etc. We were told at this website that they offer an airport VIP lounge which costs U.S. $20.00 per person. This VIP service includes express check-in, a separate seating area and refreshments (there were only 2 people in it when we walked by). We did not feel it necessary to spend the extra U.S. $40.00 when we were the only flight leaving and there was plenty of room for everyone in the various seating areas.
OVERVIEW
This was an amazing trip for everyone in our travelling party, made in part that way by the wonderful people of Cuba.
D. DeFrance
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