Although the hotel was celebrating its first anniversary, evidence of poor quality work was everywhere. Quite a contrast to the older hotels, which even when rundown, display beautiful workmanship. We wondered if the half-century of socialist government means the skills have been lost. Service was generally good and security presence low key. This resort is like a small village. Prepare for a lot of walking and no ocean view except on the beach. For the $450 Cdn we paid Westjet, it was quite a bargain. Flying Westjet is also better than most Cuba bound airlines.Downside was a theft from our room when our usual maid had two days off.
Your Arrival:
Bellman took our luggage and then disappeared, so long delay in blistering heat to get to our room. Otherwise check in was fine. Just don’t change your money at the desk and if you do, watch the calculations carefully.
Rooms: Musty smell; smokey smell. Substitute room offered but no improvement so refused. Found if we kept air conditioner on all the time, the odour was not noticeable. Bathroom shower head sprayed water everywhere so floor was constantly wet. Leak from ceiling on day 2; several requests before someone came. Fix not permanent. By day 5, leak started again. The occasional, huge roaches were offputting, to say the least.
Nice view of lagoon. Room cheerful and well maintained and king size bed much appreciated.
Restaurants and Bars:
Food very good compared with other Cuban resorts we’ve stayed at, except impossible to get hot coffee in the dining rooms. Service so so. The lobby and pool bar offered generously-sized free drinks of all kinds, including a decent brandy and scotch, in proper glassware. Nightly entertainment in the lobby bar was a welcome respite from the usual. There was a black out for about an hour one night. The piano-saxaphone duo stayed on to keep us entertained – much appreciated by their audience. Very nice beach restaurant for lunch – a hidden gem with table service if you preferred. Excellent service there.
Beach/Pools/Grounds: Long walk to beach. Beautiful, clean sand. Very crowded. Shaded areas claimed early in the morning.
Pool area looked very well maintained.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
Water craft of all sorts available on booking.Spanish lessons every afternoon. We did not do any of the tours, but heard raves about the spa day at another resort for under $50 including transportation.
Other Comments:
Thankfully, the hotel sprayed for mosquitoes most evenings. I wondered about the health effects of the spray on the man who was walking around with the sprayer in a cloud of insecticide without any visible protection.This was my 5th trip to Cuba and the first time without some allergic reaction to the mosquitoes. Our room had a screened patio door – first time I’ve seen one in Cuba.
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