Cuba,Anyone been?
 

Advise please,will be staying here.
Club Villa Cojimar, Cayo Coco/Cayo Guillermo, Cuba by Conquest Vacations

Going in November,anyone been?

Cheers Mick.

Will be watching this thread, gonna book very shortly for next year. :thumb:

we went to havana and varadero for our honeymoon. lovely country, very relaxed (have been to the dominican as well, so we had an idea of the pace of life) and people are very friendly

ask away...

What was it like getting back home after a great holiday like that? :D

well since you asked dci, we arrived home quite late. unfortunately, the flight home was delayed and instead of going on to kingston to pick up more passhngers, the plane went there first and then back to us. i think we were delayed about 8hours in all, so a bit of a pain but we were quite relaxed anyway.
when we arrived a heathrow (could have been gatwick, can't remember), the plane was surrounded by police cars and as we walked off the plane into the building we all had to walk past a sniffer dog. strange experience but i guess it was a drug related cautionary excersie
the traffic wasn;t too bad on the m25, but ....[actually, before i continue i would just like to check that this is the sort of response you were hoping for. if it is, then i could type for hours. obviously if you think i've gone off at a tangent then i'll stop now :) ]

my m8 and his g/f went and said it rained constantly and nothing to do but get p***ed>!

As long as its dry in the bar.:lol1:

Will be flying from Gatwick,looks like a drive from Durham,as there is no flights from here ,and its a 10.30am flight.

Going to search Tripadvisor now.

Yes, this is EXACTLY what I wanted to know! please continue on (I'm hoping for a lot more detail though) what kind of sniffer dog was it? was it raining?.. etc, etc,....

I'm looking forward to your 'getting home' bit as well.... :D:thumb:

Hi mate, me and my family stayed in the iberostar daquiri (the hotel next door) about 3 years ago. The beach is just like paradise with white powdery sands, you can walk out into the sea for miles and it is still up to your waist. It only rained about twice in our two week stay. Weather was nice and we all came back with good tans. We walked to your hotel via the beach and looked very nice (it is a long beach which stretches along some hotels). I would deffinately go back to Cuba. Off to kenya a week monday :luxhello: :luxhello:

Bend over,sound of Rubber glove slap.:lol1:

Changed me mind.:thumb:

Cuba, just got back, stayed nr Guardalavaca, what can i say but excellent holiday, you should not be dissappointed but you wont want to go to Europe again!
take a good sun cream factor 30 is not enough!! dont buy cigars from any where other than official outlets, a 10 peso box will cost 10 pesos wherever you go, people selling them in the street or at markets (if they are genuine) will add their 2 pesos.
take diorrhea medicine, one of you will get it, also take and use a good mosquito repellent or you will egt painfully bitten.
everyone expects a tip, 1-2 pesos is adequate, although shampoos toothpaste etc is more in demand because they can only get a limited supply, magazines are prohibited so you may wish to donate some when you are finished with them. currency can only be got when you get there, take cash and you can change it at the airport, do not insult cubans by giving them dollars, they cant spend it legitimately and to be honest they are not keen on the yanks.
finally, i had a conversation with a security guy who believed that only uri gagarin had been to space such is their concept and understanding of the outside world.
enjoy yourself its a great place for a holiday, shame in 5 or so years when Fidel is gone the yanks will snap it up and McDonaldise it.

I think moses has been - infact he might still be there ;)

you'll never believe this, but i bumped my head last night and can't remember the detail any more :wonder: . sorry to leave you with such a cliff hanger :freak3:

however. i think the dog was a white and tan cocker spaniel and yes it was raining when we landed. i do recall walking into my half-finished house and noticing that a brand new tumble drier and patio heater had both mysteriously made their way into the kitchen/conservatory...

i still have some monte cristos left (all sealed of course). as firesorter said, only buy tobacco from government outlets. you will be approached by lifeguards on the beach saying they can do you a special deal and people in the street offering "deals". they are so much more polite than people offering "deals" in other countries, but have the same intentions of course

if you smoke, take cigarettes with you. i know that's a strange concept, buy the chances of you being able to buy your preferred brand there are remote.

toiletries (esp feminine hygiene products) are all in short supply. again a strange concept, but if you leave bits like shampoo, shower gel, etc that will be appreciated by the staff at your resort. don;t know how keen they are on bars of soap with hairs on them, so i would just take shower gel if i were you

neither of us had any problems with diahorrea, but it is well worth taking remedies in case - we did have a problem with this is the dom rep a few years ago so are usually prepared these days!

as soon as you get to the airport, you will be approached by someone you assume is a porter. whether or not you want to give them money to carry your cases is up to you, but if you give them a pound coin for instance, they will ask for "paper money". if you carry your own cases, by the time you get to the cab, a "porter" will have appeared to open the boot. he'll put the cases in the boot and hold out his hand just as the driver gets out of the car to close the boot. we never felt intimidated with any of this, but it is worth being aware of it.

the extremes in the country are very noticeable. there are the very rich and the very poor (have you seen the miami vice film? :wonder: ). some areas will seem quite intimidating in appearance, but we were more comfortable in havana than in some places we've been to in new york, toronto, margate etc.

the laws in cuba (IIRC) sway heavily in favour of the tourist. i believe there are quite severe penalties for cubans upsetting the apple cart, so they tend to be quite placid and generally quite helpful. there are people out there who live off tourists - there;s name for them but can;t remember it - we met a couple in the park outside our 5 star hotel who also happened to be on their honeymoon. they lived in cuba and wanted to go to a local bar with us to discuss wedding experiences. we politely declined and said good night, so i presume they found someone else to buy them a drink.

we walked all over the place in havana. during the day and late at night. there are police/security forces all over the place. they're not in your face, just standing quietly in corners or porches keeping an eye on things

:lol:

I've been to Cayo Levissa, which I assume is near where you are going. You HAVE to have the nasty DEET mossie stuff - what we had didnt work. Ouch!

Loved the place and toured it for a few weeks giving lifts to dozens locals in my hired 'rich boy' 106.

Some spanish helps if you are outside Varadero etc. Just the basics - or you can just speak louder and point more ;)

D

Hopefully going there next year for my honeymoon, so will be watching this thread. :thumb:

this is handy,im off there next month- the blau colonial,cayo coco for two weeks of doing very little! 650 all in, last minute deals are great :thumb:

nice time to go to cuba with hurricane dean on its way ;)

£505 all inclusive.:lol1: :thumb:

Cheers for the replys guys.:thumb:

we stayed at the exact hotel back in may this year.

so a mini review for you.

the hotel:

this hotel is one of the cheapest in the cayo's but don't let that put you off. The staff are super super friendly and speak very good english. the odd tip here and there will go a very long way.

The rooms:
the rooms are very basic and the decor a little dated but the most important thing is they are very clean. clean once a day. fully airconditioned free of charge. The rooms also have a fridge and if you pay you can get it stocked as a mini bar.
They also have a safe.
We had absolutly no complaints with our room. you don't go to cuba to sit in your room (well we cetainly didn't)

Pool:
the pool area was always kept clean and although there isn't a pool bar its only a few steps away. every day in and around the pool they normally hold small just for fun competions. your not forced to take part but we did as its a good laugh. if you win the competition you will be rewarded with a small prize.

the bar is free 24hours a day but i would suggest taking a thermos style cup as the pool bar will only serve you drinks in small plastic cups (due to safety)

The food:
the buffet resturant has a large array of food. we tried to only eat the cuba food (whats the point of going all that way to have pizza and chips?). some of the meat was a little fatty but this is the same right across cuba. The food is fully edible but it did get a little bland towards the end.

There are also two other resturants on site. these again are good but not the best resturant you have ever been to.

There is also a grill at the pool bar that does burgers, seafood sandwhiches etc.

The Beach
The hotel backs onto the beach which is gorgous. there are also a few kyaka's and pedlo's that you can take out FoC.
I also recomend getting across to piliar (*spelling) beach its absolulty stunning.

Entertainment:
The hotel put on a show most nights and they have got a disco. they have also got a pool table in the main bar.
there is also a bowling alley just up the road that we went to a few times its not free but its very cheap and makes a change to the hotel.

Other advice:
go to havana. thats an order. it was £150 each when we went an i would have paid ten times that. it was one of the best experinces of our lives. i'm not going to spoil it but trust me its worth the money.

we also went on loads of other excuresions and got to see a lot of the country and the people. it is deffinatly an eye opener to say the least.

also take pound steriling with you and change them up when you get there. you can't take the currency in or out the country as don't change up loads at a time. also you will have a pay a tax to leave the country works out at around £17 per person.

For the price we paid we diffinatly had no complaints and had a brilliant time! We are deffinatly going back in a few years.

hope this helps and if you have anymore questions just let me know