Playa Pesquero Hotel Reviews

The flight to Playa Pesquero was about ten hours from England. It was quite tiresome and boring. There was some movies on T.V, but most of them were on 'premium' where you had to pay. I thought that was really unfair, apart from that everything was ok.

When we arrived at the hotel the heat hit me so hard! I think it was something like 32 degrees celcius. There were free drinks given out and we were soon given our room keys. A member of staff put our suitcase on a buggy and took us to our room. There were four beds, C.D player, T.V , bathroom and general stuff. I thought it was quite small and I hate sharing a room with my parents, I had to change in the bathroom all the time. The first thing I wanted to do is jump in the gigantic pool! Apparently is the biggest(or one of the biggest) pools in Cuba. There was a bar in the lake like pool but I never visited it as it always seemed to busy, and i think all the drinks were alcopholic, which I;m to young to drink. There was a lot of grimy stuff at the bottom of the pool. But it wasn't too bad.

My sister and I made frequent visits to the sport center during the holiday, it was quite fun and had lots of things to do like table tennis, pool, badminton, tennis and more. In the brochure it says that theres a kids club in the sport center, but it never seemed to be running-how strange. We also went down to the lobby to get our drinks (its an all inclusive hotel). Theres quite a selection. At nights theres shows going on. I never saw them though.
Theres a lot of Crickets, Lizards and Toads were were stayed. I though the lizards and toads were rather cute! They never got inside our hotel room though.
Whilst on our holiday we swam with dolphins, it was an unmissible experience! Although the dolphins seem to do it endlessly, which really must bore them.
We also when on a speedboat trip. I have to say it was quite dangerous, you go extreamly fast, you drive through the mangroves and go up to the farmer who gives you food like banana,papaya,sugar cane, cocunut etc. I really think its an accident waiting to happen though!

We also went on and Island Paradise trip where you see this cut island called 'Nape'(<<I think)It has the clearest water and the whitest sand you ever saw!You also got the oppurtuinity to snorkle, which I didn't do because I felt ill at the time. At the island we went horse riding, without helmets and rope instead of reigns! It was a scary experience as the horses started trotting at random points of the journey.
There are many restaurents to choose from,I got a tummy ache from eating some weurd chicken and my mum was sick because of a fried egg. Oh and watch out because they really undercook the veggies! It was good but they ofen came up to us and said";Sorry, we dont have cheesecake"; <<For example.

The playa pesquereo beach is wonderfull, you have the chance to go on pedaol boats or go snokelling or even kayakking and more. Dont worry-you can get lifejackets.But there was this one time when one of the staff was putting out the deck chairs, my mum tipped him the equivelent to 5 pence in Cuban money but he refused to take it saying that ";OIt was too little";
The maids were really nioce and they made are towels into swans,hearts and other various shapes. We left some spare clothes out for the maid to take.

One morning we hired bikes and cycled to this discreet village. They stared at us as if we were aliens. A kind family took us into their house, whcih was incredibly small and gave us cocunuts to drink out of! We gave them coins and clothes. Outside their house their was a box with a live piglet inside it. Guess what/ It was for their dinner-eww.
The plane back was horrendous if you were wondering lol.
That about rounds it all up!

We have just arrived back from 2weeks in cuba and loved every minute.Usually we go for a smaller resort and was a bit taken aback by the size of things but as you get to know your way around its not as big as it first appears.There are several restaurants all with plenty to offer and plenty of drinks even though the coke is a bit of an aquired taste.The people are very friendly and everywher is kept very clean.if you can take with you T shirts and toiletries pens pencils and paper they are extremely greatful as they dont get very much and rely on tips which 1peso almost seems an insult yet they are very greatfull.

We had 2 super wekks and would not hesitate to go back.

we have just returned from a wonderful two week holiday to playa pesquero,it was fantastic.Plenty of good food and lots to drink,24 hours a day if you wish.Rooms plenty big enough we had 2 single beds and 1 queen and still room,massive swimming pool with lots of sunbeds,not so many with parasols,lovely clean beach.all the staff and every body we met very friendly really large resorthotel but not crowded hoping to go back next year!

we flew from gatwick 10hours going plus we had to go via varadero then on to holquin which was another hour so quite a long day with two kids in tow, from my experience i would give it 10out of 10

We went to Cuba for the first time and loved it. The people are so friendly.
Our hotel was wonderful. The food was excellent and lots of choice. The al a carte resturants well good especially the Romantica.

The staff in the hotel were great and very friendly. The service is excellent. The alcohol drinks are so good even the local wine and champayne is good. If you leave a note in your fridge with a peso or 2 they will leave you some.
Rooms are spacious and very clean. Change you towels daily and the sand flys hitch a lift on them and bite during the night (god they are so itchy). Take pleny repellent although the hotel grounds are sprayed at 6pm daily there are still some mosquitos.

The dolphin trip is excellent. You can pay 10 peso and get a ride on them well worth the money.

We would definately go back to Cuba and definately to this hotel could not fault it even though we did have a few days of rain

i travelled to cuba on the 9th of august 2006 on monarc airways they where great!
But the nly conlain i would have is about towel in front and behind the gap in the thompsons they where hopless!!

soo ok moving on well we arrived at the hoteland was served fruity drinks wif rum in or no rum they where fab.we got owa room got into the room it was vert big and spacey the desighns and paintings on the wal are just amazing. but there is lotz of insects so if you dont want them in your room put towels in front and behind the gap in the door.

The food is gorgous there are loadz a choices off food we visited all the alicarte restaurantes and we found the romantico and sea food was the best and the chinease wasnt really chinease food but was still ok.you can eat on a night at the buffet or book alicarte restaurantes or you can go dwn the carabien street sorta thing and eat in the italaion 24 hour resaurante or the beer garden there lovely!

the drinks are a big choice any alchohol or non alchol you can think about is there from perno to gin. the drink i found was lovely was the chocolate monkey try it.there is a 24 hour bar in the lobby there is a bar in the pool and around the pool theres just bars all over. you can also get champain and dont have to pay for it.

the pool is the biggest pool i have ever seen in my whole life there is kids clubs for kids and kiddy games so they will be well ocupied.on a night the shows are good but on some nights ther arfull that we moved up away from the music there is a disco where every one seems to go at midnight and thing.

the hotel overall is absolutley fab best holiday ever we are going bck soon the staff are also great aspecialls sxy the baldy bar man. so cya plz visite the hotel its great!!!

We had an excellent Holiday in Jan 2006, I would highly recommend this Complex to anyone all ages.

Staff very helpful and friendly couldn't do enough for you.

Rooms are very clean tidy, towels are nice and fluffy also massive queen size bed !! Maid tidies and cleans your room every day

Spoilt for choice with so many bars and restaurants offering many local and brand name alcoholic drinks and cocktails like Gordons Gin, also being 24 hour, you are never hungry or thirsty.

The beach and sea are just amazing the sea is so warm and blue, it was warmer than the swimming pool !

Yes there is the odd Cricket or two but they are harmless and I recommend putting a towel a the bottom of your door to block the gap when you are in and out of the room, then they shouldn't bother you at all.

Not much to do outside the complex though. But there are excursions you can go on and I would recommend swimming with the dolphins was one of my highlights.

Definite value for money.

Having read some of the reviews we were not sure what to expect from this hotel however don't be put off by some of the bad reviews on web site.

We thought this hotel was wonderful.

It was clean and tidy at all times the room was lovely and cleaned every day. We enjoyed the food and found plenty that we liked, the choice of restaurants meant we never got sick of eating the same thing. The staff were very helpful and could not do enough for us. The beach ia beautiful and the pool is huge, there are plenty of sunbeds available at both.

We would definatley like to return to Cuba and would return to the Hotel Playa Pesquera. We could not find fault with any part of our holiday here.

Just returned from the playa pesquero, where to begin, After not a bad flight even though we had to put down in varadero for 2 hours before flying on to holguin.

We finaly arrived at the playa pesquero at 9.30 pm cuban time.At first glance everything seemed ok nice reception etc, the next morning however we began to see what problems were going to plague us for the next 14 days, Firstly i have to say that the room was very nice although the air con in my opinion was sub standard for the temperature between 30 - 35 in the day and not much below at night. the mini bar is not really well stocked one 1.5 litre bottle of water 2 minature cans of dutch beer (yuck) and 2 cans of cuban cola which was fine.

Now to the bad points the buffet restaurant like the majority of the hotel is open air and was engulfed like all of the food with flies and mosquitoes the staff didnt seem to care that much. As food platters were becoming half empty new food was brought out and put on top of the old food which must have been left open to the insects for at least an hour, the a la carte restaurants were ok but nothing special once again wide open (with the exception of the romantico) inundated with flies, mosquitoes, and the biggest moths i have ever seen,

Beach and pool area were nice, lobby bar and entertainment stage were once again wide open and you couldnt really relax with a drink without getting bitten by or having insects flying into you.The drink i have to say is good scotch whisky galore (grants, j+b, vat 69, ballantines) also nice vodka (stoly, smirnoff, finlandia) although the service is non existant and the crowds at the bar were a joke sometimes 20 minutes to get a drink under 200 watt bulbs hanging about a foot from your head.

Also this hotel seems to be attracting groups of single lads and girls who are looking for a more tropical version of san antonio or faliraki this is not the kind of clientel that you'd expect at a supposed 5* hotel.

Trips here are a rip off, every trip is expensive compared to say mexico where they were reasonable. Only did one trip which was pretty good a trip to visit a sugar plantation with still working american steam locos and then on to bariay where christopher columbus first set foot on cuban soil lunch included which was actually as good if not better than the hotel, which says something. We met loads of people who were disgusted with not only the health and hygiene issues but with the staff in the hotel, I can actually speak spanish fairly well and when my wife was asking for things in spanish she was being either ignored or misheard which i thought was totaly unacceptable, As we have been to literaly every spanish speaking continent on earth and have never had a problem before. we did however meet 2 really nice cuban bar tenders, raul and rafael who were great really freindly and always up for a chat and a laugh.

We heard horror story after horror story from people not just english but canadian, german,etc while we were there anything from peoples rooms swarming with insects, to people finding snakes in their room, to the rooms being full of mildew on the walls and bedding. I have to say that we were very lucky with our room as the only uninvited guest we had was a very small and very cute crab which we named sebastian.

This hotel is nowhere near a five star even by normal standards, We were in mexico last year at the moon palace and there is no comparison between the 2. I'm sure that a 3* in mexico is better than this hotel. So on the whole we wont be coming back to cuba until they get things sorted out with the health and hygiene issues as i dont want myself or my wife to have another 14 days of being to hot, ill, hungry and annoyed at paying so much for so little.

Holiday Overall
Wouldn't visit this resort again. The hotel is totally isolated, so the ";resort"; consists of the hotel and its grounds. My advice is to go for the more mature resort areas - take a look at Varadero, for example. The affordable excursions were criticised by other holidaymakers - the trip to Santiago was a particular disappointment, apparently, because the shops didn't accept the tourist currency, the CUC!

Hotel
Clean and a very good standard of accommodation. Hope you don't mind insects, though - as we were in a ground floor accommodation we were plagued a bit by the huge crickets (people thought they were cockroaches, but rest assured they are definitely crickets - I didn't see one cockroach during the two-week stay. Put a towel across the bottom of the door and the crickets can't get in.
The Hotel is huge and if you're elderly and/or have problems walking I wouldn't recommend it. As I've said, the hotel is very isolated. The journey from the airport to the resort was a very sobering experience. The people who work the land are very obviously dirt-poor.

Food
I though the food was excellent. A wonderful choice and if the flies bothered you, you could always make use of the chefs who are on hand to cook fresh meals. I recommend the steak (Argentinean), veal and the fresh seafood. The Red Snapper was particularly good. Be aware that there are lots of small flies, though, and much time was spent swatting them away. It seemed to me, however, that the flies lived totally on good food - it wasn't as if they were dining on their usual fare (use your imagination!) and then landing on the food. We didn't suffer any tummy upsets.
The A-la-carte restaurants were all fine, although the seafood restaurant on the beach is plagued with Mozzies.

Bars and Entertainment
The entertainment is dire, which is a huge minus because your stuck with it - there is nothing for miles around the hotel - you simply can't escape it. It's costumes and Cuban music night after night after night (the Cuban singer had a terrible high-pitched and LOUD screech.) There was live band on for one night and they provided such a relief with Beatles, Deep Purple and other rock standards. I can't really put into words how bad the evening entertainment was. It's a bit like watching performing arts students dress up in over-the-top costumes for an end-of-term concert. It really is dreadful. And then there are the ";fashion"; shows....
I found that the bars were always accessible, with a good choice of international brands. Don't drink the ";Baileys"; though - be warned. The ";Coke"; was also terrible - think Rola-Cola infused with a dash of rusty nails. Sort of got used to the coke, though - no choice really.
The disco smells and is a tots and kids snotty-nose fest.
If you only drink beer and wine there are several other places you can go for a drink, other than the main lobby bar. Next to the lobby bar is a wonderful coffee bar, which serves up great coffees - the Spanish Coffee was my favourite, laced with rum.

Beach and Pool
No problems, both great. At its deepest, the pool is probably waist high, beds are accessible enough. The beach is lovely.

Mosquitoes
Some people were terribly scarred by bites. Take the strongest cream your skill can cope with. I recommend this website: http://www.safariquip.co.uk/i_insect_repellent_information html

First Choice
No complaints. The flights and service were great. I would recommend their Premier Cass - its very reasonably priced and is of a very high standard. It certainly offers better value for money that Virgin's Premium Economy. The resort reps were OK and friendly enough. I would certainly use First Choice again.

Tipping
My advice is not to tip until the end of your holiday, and if you have received good service tip notes and not coins (the coins are pooled so the staff who offer poor service are rewarded as well.) The staff appreciate pens and children colouring books, make-up, medicines (headache pills) branded clothes etc

The Guardalavaca Train
It's not a train but a series of buggies linked together, which travels by road to the ";town"; of Guardalavaca. The town is a few markets stalls selling the usual tourist things, a few shops and a beach. It leaves at 9.30 each morning, costs 5 CUC's return, and gets back to the hotel at 1pm-ish. The train gives you an opportunity to throw things to any children along the route. They wave hopefully at the tourists.

Hotel Clientele
This hotel is full of Canadians. The French-Canadians are very good-time and like to drink huge amounts and the English-speaking Canadians are very similar to Americans. The British and Germans are probably the most reserved lot there! If you've come across Germans when on holiday you'll know when I say that they were stereotypically German. There were no problems that I saw, though, and we found the vast majority of people to be very friendly.

Overall, then, not really our cup-of-tea. The Hotel is let down badly by its evening entertainment - a severe downside considering its isolated location. May return to Cubs someday, but will visit a more mature resort. Off to Corfu in the summer and then Key West and possibly Orlando in 07!

Having read some of the reviews on this site, prior to going on holiday, I felt compelled to add my own review now I'm back. When we first booked this hotel (June 2005) we thoroughly checked all the review sites and there seemed that no-one had a bad word to say about the resort. Once we had booked it, several really negative reviews suddenly appeared and I honestly thought I'd made a BIG mistake - how wrong that was! Having been to St Lucia, Sharm El Sheik and Dominican Republic for our previous 3 holidays, I can honestly say that this beats them all, hands down! This was the same cost as Sharm (which was only half-board and half the journey) and Dom Rep and half the cost of St Lucia!

Yes, I acknowledge that it is not a British ";5 Star"; - but in comparison to the other resorts we had been to (which were 4* plus) this is by far the best! We paid approx £800 each, for 2 weeks in a fantastic, large, clean room, ate unlimited food (24hrs a day, if you wanted!) including 4 x ";4 course A La Carte"; meals per week, drank unlimited ";branded"; drinks, could take part in any number of activities and water sports, all for approximately £50 each per day, not including the flight! I'd like to see people manage to do this in the UK!

We set off from Manchester with Thomas Cook, in ";Premier"; - totally worth the extra. Last year we flew Thomas Cook to Dom Rep and only got the extra-legroom seats, at a cost of around £60 each and this is much, much better - 30kg of luggage allowance each, separate check-in, priority boarding, extra legroom seats in a separate section at the front of the plane with dedicated crew, FREE drinks all flight (We were given two drinks each, every time the trolley came round and it never seemed to stop! From Smirnoff Ice to Bucks Fizz - we must have got through about £40 each, at aircraft prices) a goody bag (toiletries, including a face spritz and lip balm to counteract the dryness of the air) free headphones, a choice of main course at mealtimes and finally, priority hold baggage, meaning our cases were the first off the carousel!

All-in-all, a perfect journey, though I must add here that the info for Premier states ";pre-allocated"; seats or something similar - I checked what that meant when I booked and all it referred to was that you were in the Premier Cabin - I wanted to reserve seats together, so I paid an extra £20 and reserved the seat numbers in advance (there is a plan of the plane on the website, the Premier Cabin has 7 rows, with a seat layout of 2-3-2, we wanted to get a window seat and loved the idea of it just being 2 seats, so the £20 was well worth paying) Some people did not realise this and so there were some unhappy people at check-in (either because the could not get a window seat or were on different rows, behind each other).

The flight itself was very comfortable, with a good choice of recent films (Mr and Mrs Smith, Valiant, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, etc) The only downside is the stop off at Varadero airport. We were told by both the Captain and the crew that we would leave the aircraft for only 30-40mins maximum, but it was actually 2hrs 40mins - something they must have been aware of, because as soon as we got into the airport (roughly 3pm) I checked the departure board and saw the flight wasn't due to depart until almost 6pm, so I had my doubts - but thought they might let us back onboard earlier. Most people complained about this when we got back on the plane - we had all sat around in the departure gate area when we could have shopped or sat in the bar , but the announcements were in broken english, so most people stayed put, for fear of missing the flight call. The flight between Varadero and Holguin takes about an hour and they are unable to open the bar to serve any food or alcohol, so all we got was a cup of orange squash!

Landing at Holguin was not the nightmare I had envisaged. We were first off the plane, the immigration desks had no queues and the baggage was first off the carousel. That said, we then had to wait on the coach for others to arrive, but it was air-conditioned. The drive to the resort took about an hour, but it was dark so not much to see. We dropped off at only one other hotel, which was next door to ours. When we got to the Playa Pesquero, registration was quick and efficient and we were given our room cards, towel tickets and an info guide/map of the hotel. There was a slight wait for the train/golf carts to transport you to the room, but after being sat down on planes and coaches, it was a welcome relief to be stood up for a short while!

When we got to the room, we actually thought we'd been upgraded! Thats how nice it was (last yr, in the Dom Rep, we had paid for an upgrade, only to be put in a damp, smelly room with dirty white walls, basic dirty furniture with a basic bathroom - the only difference with the upgrade was slightly more floor space - we tried to get moved and viewed several rooms, all of which were the same as where we were, so we stayed put)This room was clean, big and bright - lovely yellow walls with a mural at one end of the room, a HUGE bed - wider than it was long - lovely drapes over the bed, two lovely wicker high-backed chairs with big, plump cushions, a table, a dresser with a large tv on it, a mini-bar, a coffee maker, free digital safe, an iron/ironing board and even a golf umbrella, for those sudden tropical showers. They even had the finishing touches of shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, shoe shine, sewing kit, nail files and a bookmark!

We had told them it was our wedding anniversary before we arrived, so there was even a bottle of champagne and two glasses waiting in the room (another reason why we thought it might have been an upgrade) After speaking to others, it obviously wasn't upgraded, as the superior rooms had a separate ";lounge"; area. I have seen other reviews saying that the rooms were dirty, damp or smelly - I can say, hand on heart, we could not find anything to fault in our room, it was perfect! As for the towels, some people have said previously they were rough - on the first day we got there, they were fairly thin (but by no means rough!) but from the second day, we had large, white, fluffy towels, better than my own ones at home, left in a multitude of swans, hearts etc! Whether the tip we left for the maid (toothbrushes, toiletries, hair accessories, soft toys, etc) had anything to do with it or whether it was just a co-incidence, I can't say! The bathroom was equally as nice and spacious as the room itself. There was always hot water and the shower was so powerful (again, last yr, the ";warm"; water ran out before 6pm each day and the shower was so weak, it wouldn't wash the suds out of my hair).

The first night we arrived, it was about 10pm when we landed in the room (2am UK time and we had been up since 4am the day before) so we quickly unpacked and went for a pizza in the 24hr trattoria - lovely, crispy and freshly cooked! We collapsed back in bed and left the exploring till the next day.

Only when we got up did we appreciate the size and beauty of the complex. The rooms were situated in small 2-storey blocks, with pathways and gardens in between. The main restaurants, pool, shops etc were in the middle of the resort, running between the large, open, main reception at one end and the beach at the other. The whole resort was lovely and clean. Gardeners were always around, clearing up and trimming the grass and plants. There were 24-hr repair crews (though we never needed to use them) Golf buggys circled the complex regularly, so you could hail one to take you anywhere you wanted, but it was no problem to walk - we only tended to use the buggies in the evening, when we were too full to walk!! The staff were always polite and friendly. Considering how much we have compared to them, I'm surprised they don't seem resentful! We found we got the same service, whether we tipped or not and never had to wait for more than a few minutes to get served. I'm not sure how full the complex was (there are 940 rooms) but there were lots of people there who had been due to go to Cancun and had been moved due to the hurricanes and also, I was told there were 200 Canadians there who had been moved from another hotel whose air conditioning had broken. There were a mix of nationalities, quite a few Europeans and Canadians, but everyone seemed to keep themselves to themselves. We would have quite liked a few more younger English couples, as it seemed there were either families or older couples, but that's probably to do with the time of year.

The pool was huge, with islands dotted in it and a swim-up pool bar at one end. This was where most of the noise was and where the daytime entertainment took place. There were regular classes for water aerobics, dance classes and the usual volleyball etc, though there was none of the ";pressure"; to join in, just an announcement before each session started (I have been to other places where the would shake you awake just to ask you to join in stuff). At the opposite end of the pool was a bar with a patio area outside. They also pushed a wooden bar round this side of the pool so they could serve you drinks at your sunlounger! We had taken the insulated cups which we had seen people using on previously holidays and can recommend this! Keeps your drinks cold and the insects out! The loungers around the pool were comfortable (the blue nylon type, which you could alter to several angles). Other reviews have said they needed cushions on the loungers but this is not the case. The loungers on the beach, though, were hard white plastic, so I agree that they did get a bit uncomfortable after a while, but I did see some people with rubber mats, which I think they could ";hire"; from the beach hut. I didn't spend much time on the beach, so a beach towel on the lounger was ok for me.

The beach was wonderful, lovely white sand and blue seas. There was a slight shelf as you got into the water, which could make getting out slightly difficult, but once you were in it was fine. Lots of people used snorkels and went out a very short distance to a reef, where I heard them say there were numerous colourful fish. On the beach, there were pedaloes, canoes, hobiecats, windsurf boards and a speedboat. I saw the speedboat being used in two ways, to ";rescue"; novice windsurfers who could not get back on their boards but also I saw groups of people who looked like they were going sightseeing - whether this was a private agreement, I don't know, as there is no mention of motorised waterports anywhere. There were always 3 lifeguards on duty and also there were police driving up and down the beach. All beaches in Cuba have to be public beaches, so there may be locals on them, especially at weekends, but we are told there is no crime and you can leave your belongings safely (though we did take our money and room keys with us, just incase). I overheard someone saying that 4 digital cameras had gone missing one day, but not sure where that was from (beach, hotel, or on a trip) But could anyone leave ANYTHING in the UK without it being taken? I doubt it!

There were always sunbeds available (pool or beach) and although no moveable umbrellas, there were fixed ";palm"; umbrellas at both locations, and along with the numerous palm trees, there was always shade to be found. The beach attendants would bring the beds to wherever you wanted them, clean them down and set them up for you. The beach was a little too warm for me, but the view and the sea was lovely. The beach restaurant served drinks and snacks during the day and was the Seafood Restaurant at night. Lovely fresh lobster and shrimp!

The other restaurants were:

Asiatico - a mixture of japanese and chinese (sushi, spring rolls, curry, sweet and sour etc). We visited here twice and both times we had quite a wait to be served (but we were kept topped-up with drinks and bread rolls!) Not a complaint, just an observation! Apparently, when speaking to others, the earlier diners were ok, but we usually ate at around 8pm.

Grill - my view of this will be tainted, as I got soaked by a sudden downpour on walking to the restaurant and spent the meal dripping wet! It had a reasonable choice and the service was fast, but it was very much ";nouvelle cuisine"; in portions! Beautifully presented, though!

La Gondolla - one of two Italian restaurants (the other being the 24-hr Trattoria). Fantastic food and service - probably my favourite place to eat, though I do like italian anyway. Lovely choice, boiling hot, adequate portions, etc, etc. The restaurant has a full-size gondolla (in which people sat to have photos taken) and some ";private"; tables which were on stilts in the water, accessed by small walkways. There was a violinist there one night, too.

Romantica - This is the only air-conditioned restaurant, the rest are open-sided (though with plastic curtains that could be lowered if it rained or was windy) Romantic, dimmed lighting and a very relaxed atmosphere. We dined here twice and had lovely meals both times. The first time there was a pianist playing here, too.

Trattoria - as previously mentioned, this is the 24hr Italian - everything from pizzas, burgers, sandwiches, salads, lasagne, spag. bol., etc. I believe it also has a breakfast menu, if you miss out at the buffet. A good selection of food and drink and many people made use of it when they got the muchies at 2am, I believe!

Beer Garden - this was also open 24hrs and serves more ";snacks"; (I'd describe them more like tapas) small plates of things like meatballs, shrimps in bacon, russian salad, chicken strips etc - it is best to order a few between you and share, as they come ";as is"; (no salad, chips, etc)

Buffet Restaurants - they were next to each other. We used the bigger one at breakfast, but the smaller one for evenings (the smaller one was also open for lunch). A wide selection of hot and cold dishes. For breakfast, it was the usual choice of cereals, cooked stuff, pastries, fruit, pancakes, omelettes, toast, etc, etc. Always plenty to choose from and things like eggs and omelettes cooked to order. There was even a smoothie bar for fresh fruit smoothies. At lunch and in the evening, there were ";hotplates"; where they would freshly cook a selection of meat and seafood (shrimp, red snapper, hake, steak, pork, chicken etc) just to your liking, a pasta bar, again which cooked your selection of meat/vegetables (ham, tuna, onion, pepper, mushroom, etc, etc if required) and added them to the pasta and sauce of your choice. I just had spaghetti in tomato sauce sprinkled with cheese and it was lovely! There was always paella and usually both a ";roast"; meat and a fish that the chef carved for you. There were numerous other hot and cold meat dishes, cold cuts, salads, soups, vegetables, etc. etc. The deserts were numerous, both hot and cold, and there was ice cream too!

That leads me onto the next venue - the Ice Cream Parlour! Open from 10am - 10.30pm and what a choice - coconut, mango, papaya, chocolate, orange - you name it! About 20 varieties and loads of sauces to top it off with! There were also dishes of fruit cocktail in the fridge, so we used to have a ";sundae"; mid-afternoon!

I cannot understand the people who complain about the food! It was always hot and plentiful. You could go back for more as many times as you wanted. Even in the A La Carte, we saw people ordering two starters each! You can book the A La Carte restaurants four times a week, so at most you will eat in the Buffet 3 times a week. You just have to go to the Conference Suite, to make the bookings and they were quite happy for you to go once and make bookings for the whole fortnight. If the time or date wasn't available, they suggested swapping dates to fit you in. Also, if it was a birthday or anniversary, they could pre-order champagne, cakes, etc. Nothing was too much trouble. In Sharm, it was buffet-style and two nights I ended up on bread and cheese! Here I was spoilt for choice! And in the entire two weeks, neither of us had the slightest sign of an upset stomach! A first for me, in 20 years of foreign travel! Even in Europe, it usually affects me.

At the reception area, next to the 24-hr lobby bar, there was also a speciality coffee bar - did an extensive range of liqueur coffee and was open till atleast 11pm - a lovely way to round off your evening meal.

The lobby bar was the main meeting place in the evening, next to the theatre where the entertainment took place. I must admit that we didn't watch any of the shows, but listened to them whilst relaxing in the lobby area. There was supposed to be a cocktail list at the bar, containing almost 100 cocktails, but whenever we asked to see it, there wasn't one to hand. We tried several cocktails just by listening to what others were having, but most were too strong for me! I settled for a ";Chi-Chi";, which was like a Malibu and pineapple! We asked for a Mojito several times, but were informed that the hotel didn't supply any mint! We did get them occasionally, but it was the staff that brought the mint in from home, grown in their own gardens! A lovely touch, for people who earn very little and are actually living on rations!

There is also a karaoke bar/nightclub next to the theatre, which is air-conditioned, but in the couple of times we went in, didn't see any karaoke taking place and the music was very ";varied";!! Not many people seem to venture in and those that did didn't seem to make it as far as the dancefloor, though we usually went to bed around midnight, so it might have picked up later on!

There was a ";Vegetarian"; restaurant, which we didn't try. During the day it served chicken and chips (Roast chicken, fried chicken or chicken goujons).

I think that almost sums up all the eating/drinking venues. Other than those, there is a Doctors Surgery and Chemist, a gym with saunas and jacuzzis, an outside jacuzzi at the side of the pool, sports courts, a children's club (with its own small paddling pool, swings/climbing frames etc and all the toys to play on were plastic and made by ";Little Tykes"; so no worries as to the standards!!) and a Hairdressers (which is sometimes closed when they do weddings). In the hairdressers, I had a 45-minute manicure and polish and was charged the grand sum of £3!! I tipped her more for doing it!

There are 3 shops on site, a small souvenir shop (not much in it, some wood carvings, some pottery, t-shirts etc), a shop that sells toiletries and some beachwear and a shop selling rum, soft drinks, sweets, biscuits etc. With all the food and drinks available, it is hard to see why anyone would need to buy anything! You can even get 24hr room service - there is a menu in your room and it costs a flat fee of 5CU (roughly £3), which is charged to your room and paid at reception.

The nearest town is Guardalavaca - we were told be the Rep that it has 5 shops, one of which is the supermarket, and a small market for souvenirs. As we don't like to ";haggle"; and everything we needed was on-site, we didn't bother going. To get there, there is a small ";road-train"; which takes approximately 45mins and stops at other hotels on the way. We heard that it can be unreliable and stops frequently. The other option is a taxi, which takes about 10mins. As we didn't take any trips, I can't comment on those either.

One thing to note is phone calls - the calls are expensive (roughly £3-4 per MINUTE to UK and they are only charged in full minutes, therefore a call lasting 2mins 5secs would be charged as 3mins) We were advised by the Rep to pay for each call at Reception as it was made, to avoid any nasty surprises at the end, but we just used our mobiles to text home instead. Mobile calls are as expensive as landlines and not all mobiles work in Cuba (any with an American connection have no service in Cuba, which includes Virgin and Vodafone, we were told!)We use O2, so we were ok. Two weeks of texts home (including finding out X-Factor results!) only came to £8. You only pay to make the texts, not to receive them, whereby with calls, they even charge you to receive incoming calls when abroad!!

Now to a different subject - insects! There were some flies (not many and very few actually tried to land on you) some mosquitoes, moths of varying sizes and cockroaches! Again, this is the Caribbean, so what else would you expect. We used ";insect repellant"; sun lotion and aftersun, used Avon SSS Woodland Fresh Spray and a St Lucian-bought spray around wrists and ankles in the evening. I had at most 20 bites and he only got about 4! I usually get eaten alive and so 20 wasn't that many for me! (In St Lucia, I was covered from head to toe and had to go to the nurse every morning for anti-histamine cream and anti-septic cream to be applied!) The moths ranged in wingspan up to about 8 inches - but were no problem.

The only thing I didn't like were the cockroaches - they were about the size of my hubbys thumb! Now, we only saw them in the evening, scuttling about the floor and as the venues were all open-sided, there isn't much they can do to keep them out (its not like they were emerging from the kitchens or anything!) We also got back to our rooms on two occasions and found one in there, late at night. We used to put the bathmat against the room door whilst we slept, just incase any more wanted to join the party! I don't particularly like insects, but there wasn't anything gross like spiders! Round the pool, there was also the odd ant or small green lizard, but again, if you left them alone, they left you alone, so don't let it put you off!

The weather was hot and humid, with a nice breeze at times. I can't stand extreme heat, so it was ok for me (into the 30's) but some complained about the breeze(??!!). We had a couple of cloudy days (slight, broken cloud) and two afternoons when it rained, but the majority of the time it was hot and sunny, unlike Dom Rep - same time last year we had 10 days of solid rain! Now that would be something to complain about! Towards the beginning of the 2nd week, the humidity dropped slightly and made the evenings heaven, but it cranked up again before we came home. It's the type of heat that, after you have showered and washed/dried your hair, you walk out of your lovely air-conditioned room and find yourself sweating and your hair wilting in seconds! But I'd rather have that than the rain and snow of the UK!!

Now, about coming home (boo-hoo!) One complaint was the wait for a golf cart to take your luggage to reception. We waited about 10mins - with the size of the complex and the fact there are 940 rooms, I feel that's totally acceptable. The luggage is taken to a luggage room and can be left there all day. You have to be out of your room by noon, but there is a courtesy room and towels provided, or you can pay to keep your room on, but we didn't see the need. Some people also used the showers and changing rooms in the gym. The journey back to the airport again was around an hour, but there was much more to see (which was sometimes a bad thing, with the state and size of the roads!! Hair-raising!!) Again, there was priority check-in and no queues for immigration and don't forget to keep 25CU each to one side for departure tax! We had a look round the duty free shop (perfume, rum, cigars and a few other bits and pieces) where we bought all our souvenirs, then the flight was called - an hour early!! Those who had paid for the VIP lounge had wasted their money! We were at the airport about an hour in total!!

We had a bit of a panic, as you have to change your money back to sterling in Cuba, as it is a ";closed currency";. We found the only exchange kiosk airside and it seemed to be balancing up the till (unsuccessfully!) so we stood and waited a while. Eventually, when we were served, the computed crashed and had to be re-booted - this happened about 10 times before it finally worked! We had spent so little money while we were there, we had quite a lot of money tied up in Cuban pesos, so were reluctant to leave without getting it changed back!!

Once we were on the plane, everything went ok. Another (different) goodie bag, with sleep masks and socks etc, and different films. Less inflight services on the way back, as most people tried to sleep, but a nice evening meal and a continental breakfast before we landed. Again, priority hold baggage meant we were practically first away from the carousel!!

Just to sum up, a wonderful country, wonderful scenery, wonderful hotel and wonderful people! We've both agreed we'd definitely go back again, without a doubt.

Just arrived back today 29/10/05. This is a fabulous hotel. It is an extremely large complex.

Accomodation - We had an upstairs room with a balcony. The accomodation is in blocks of 8/10 apartments which are cleaned daily. You can choose to have fresh sheets and towels every day. We had two rooms one contained the biggest bed we have ever seen - we could have all slept in it!! The kids room contained three large single beds.

Food/drink - The international buffet had a very wide variety of food but tends to be the same every day. Our son is a picky eater but usually managed to find something allbeit the same thing (chicken and chips). We ate in the asiatic,itallian,seafood and romantica al la carte restaraunts. The romantica is the only air conditioned one and is the best (however we did find reading the menu difficult due to the very subdued lighting). Don't go to the asiatic expecting a curry you won't get one! There is every kind of drink imaginable available in many bars. However, only the lobby bar and the beer garden were 24 hours. The beach bar is very handy and has a cafe during the day but turns into the seafood al la carte in the evenings - its little bit dark trying to get there and watch out for the crabs along the way. The grill is open at various times during the day it was our favourite place to go to for lunch. The tratorria (24 hours) also serves a variety of meals pizza's pasta's sandwiches etc. You can get room service at a cost of 5 pesos per time.

Trips - we went on the swim with dolphins (£66 per adult - £32 per child approx) and the catamaran trip (£46 per adult - £19 per child aprox)and the train ride into Guardalavaca. The swimming with dolphins was fantastic. You get a drink included and you can purchase further drinks. There is a photographer there (5 peso per photo) You can add various ";exercises"; in for 10 pesos each exercise - 1) pulled along holding on to two dolphins 2) getting the dolphins to push you up out of the water. However there are people around who will take photos with your own camera. There is also a dolphin show. The catamaran leaves the hotel at 8 am so its an early start and your back for about 3ish and basically involves free drinks on the boat and you get to swim in two coral reefs - fantastic - then its back to shore for a lunch (not very large) and this includes 1 drink only however you can purchase further drinks. As with all trips the cost of the trip goes directly to the government so its advisable to take some cash as tips for the tour guides and drivers. The train trip into Guardalavaca was ";interesting";. My daughter had to pay to use the loo and won't ever again!

General - On this holiday you really don't have to spend any money whatsoever if you don't want to. There really isn't much to buy in terms of gifts although there are a couple of ";shops"; in the complex itself. During our stay we all suffered from upset stomachs - a first for all of us - so please take plenty of diacalm. Also the mozzies are viscious we all were bitten terribly despite being covered from head to foot in repellent. We would definitely go back to Cuba again but not in October as the weather was not that great - out of the 14 days more than half were overcast if not pouring with rain. Cubans really are terribly poor and as a consequence of this all of our holiday money was handed over in tips in the restaraunts and bars as well as the toiletries, pens, paper, sweets etc. There is a bank where you can exchange cash in whatever denominations you wish. The swimming pool is the largets we have seen although not particularly clean.

You will need a cuban tourist visa - some tour operators organise this for you and they come to you with your tickets - Portland DO NOT tell you about this directly although it is printed on your tickets. You can get them from the cuban consulate for £15 each. However, you can also get them from the tour operaters at Manchester airport £20 each - so there's no need to panic like we did on the night before we were due to leave. You also need 25 cuban convertible pesos per person in order to leave the island.