Cuba - Travel tips

[Prophallus]

so i'm going to cuba at the end of august for a week, and its a 3+ star resort
i figured i wont care if the food is bad cuz its unlimited drinks :D
any tips on travelling there? i haven't been there before

[mlc2000]

unlimited drinks and crummy food is a sure fire way to spend your holiday on the *****ter.
If the food is crummy, what makes you think the drinks will be good?

1 week of drinking cheap booze and you can't re-nourish yorself with a decent meal.
My advice? Bring lots of Immodium, alka seltzer and Advil.

Might as well go prepared, if nothing at all goes wrong, you're ahead of the game.
If however, things are not so great, you'll be happy you packed these necessities.

Cubans have trouble buying toothpaste, imagine the troouble you'll have trying to buy Immodium.

[Mewsy]

Not sure where you're going. I can only speak for Varadero, Cuba.
I stayed at the Sandals Resort which is a 4.5 star.

I went with my best friend whose been there many times and have stayed in 2.5 - 4.5 star resorts and she says that the stars really do make a difference. Basically it is the food. Supposedly the food at Sandals was mostly imported. The lower stars' food tastes like mothballs she said. As if someone made it in their basement is what she described.

She never got sick. Must have been the unlimited alcohol that killed all the germs!

Bring some potato chips with you. You'll crave the salty snack midweek. Their chips are pretty costly. And they won't have any at your buffet cept for fries. Make sure you don't open the chips before going into or out of Cuba though or they'll confiscate it! (quarantine purposes).

If you are adventurous and plan to go on excursions to Havana, skidoo, diving etc you'll have to bring extra $$$ with you.

Bring some cheapie trinkets, soap, perfume, baseball hats, cdn pins, stationary, etc for the staff there as tips. They love it cuz they can't get that stuff.

Not many places offer this so you'll have to ask the bartenders for a Saoco (fresh coconut juice plus rum). They will get a gardener from the property for you and he'll go climb up a tree and chop down a coconut for you. The bartender will axe the top off it and then fill it half with rum! Not many ppl know to do this so I'll bet you'll be the only one walking around with these huge coconuts ;)

Have a great time! If I think of anything more I'll let you know.

[mlc2000]

Not sure where you're going. I can only speak for Varadero, Cuba.
I stayed at the Sandals Resort which is a 4.5 star.

I went with my best friend whose been there many times and have stayed in 2.5 - 4.5 star resorts and she says that the stars really do make a difference. Basically it is the food. Supposedly the food at Sandals was mostly imported. The lower stars' food tastes like mothballs she said. As if someone made it in their basement is what she described.


Which Sandals? I was at Royal Hicacos Concierge Room this past March.

[Mewsy]

Nope I was not as lucky as you... I was at the regular Sandals Resort. Not the Hicacos one for couples that you went to.

But it is still a great place and I've recommended it to EVERYONE. So far for those who have gone that I convinced, they had a really tremendous expterience there.

[BerryPride]

planning to go to cuba as well but prices just keep going up :mad: there goes my cheapo plan for last minute "deals"

[Prophallus]

im going to club amigo varadero, a 3.5 star hotel
didnt feel like paying more for a 4 star
im not much of a picky eater so im hoping the food there isnt gonna ruin my trip, the alcohol will make up for it

[jb22]

When I went to Cuba I was actually pretty worried about the food as I am a real pickey eater but it turns out it was so bad, although I did end up eating a lot of fries, pork, eggs, and pasta. One night they had rice and chicken and it was good but I didn't try much of anything else. Also, the al a carte restaurants were good, although the Mexican was better then the Cuban, go figure!

I did end up bringing a bunch of cookies and some chips and at first my girlfirend thought I was odd for doing so but a few days in she was gratefull and I wished I had brought more as they really didn't have many snaks, especially in the evening.

As for travelling around, we stayed in Cayo Guillermo (next to Cayo Coco) and there was nothing around us except for a few other resorts so travelling around wasn't really an option unless it was day trips offered by the resort.

[Mewsy]

I suppose the least costly time to go to Cuba would be the week or 2 before the Christmas holidays. I went for a week then and got my tickets last minute. Ended up paying $550 (including taxes) all inclusive for Sandals resort.

[BerryPride]

quick update on this one...ended up booking to go to punta cana dominican rep since 1) the prices are pretty close to each other and 2) i've been to cuba but not DR so better there and see something new