Travellers Reports

Every now and then I get emails from users which I feel are really worth sharing. After getting permission, I shall reproduce them here.

From ‘Jan’ (Minimal editing) who travelled from England

The flight from Manchester was a nightmare with the Freeport stop because we were left sat on the plane for nearly 2 hours whilst it re fuelled and the Bahamas holiday makers disembarked and boarded, this meant that it was nearly 9:00pm (Cuba time) when we actually got to the hotel and we were all very tired thankfully though you are allocated rooms on the transfer coach so you have no checking in to do when you arrive…. the lobby bar you will discover is unbearably hot as it has no air con (just a few ceiling fans that can't cool the heat) and the hotel has no lift so make use of the Cuban porter it will only cost a couple of dollars to let him hump your cases up to your room if your not on the ground floor.

I assume by now you are thinking we didn't like it much at this resort/hotel...WRONG we loved it

every guest gets a double bed and what a comfy bed, we had a temperature in the 90s for the full 2 week our 2 kids aged 13,14 made loads of friends all the kids in the hotel got on so well it was unbelievable it was like being on holiday without the kids, the entertainment staff keep them occupied 24/7... loads of free water sports from pendalos and catamarans to scuba lessons in the pool, and a pool table in the lobby that kids of all ages played on constantly. We were more interested in the Gym, sauna and Jacuzzi than the pool table but there all there for all to use. you will find it very difficult to get bored at this resort as there is lots of things to do.

…...

We did the colourful Cuba Trip which is a speed boat trip around the mangroves, visit to a crocodile farm, visit to a sugar plant, ride on a 1921 steam train and horse and cart ride around moron, that cost us $53 each, The jungle tour which is a real knock out trip playing in speed boats and snorkelling for $35 each, myself and hubby took a scooter out one afternoon for three hours and drove up to the Tryp hotel that cost us $15, we both had a go at paracending from 450ft for $40 each (she types with a big smile..I'm scared stiff of heights and it was brill, the guide was excellent and landing was so gentle it's unbelievable) we went on the Catamaran day trip which consists of a day at sea, snorkelling on the coral reef, a lobster or chicken dinner at sea and an amazing tan to take home (take plenty of sun cream on this one..or you will burn bad) that cost us $65 each, our daughter had her hair braided for $28 and we bought loads of craft gifts to bring back and gave out a lot of $1tips to the Cubans ($1 will buy a child ice creams for a month or a daily paper for a month in Cuba, they only earn around $15 per month),we also paid $5 each to take a banana boat out..I wish I'd given the speed boat driver a camera to take snaps of us trying to get back on it was good fun and the kids loved it.

with foresight we could have taken $500 and used the credit card to pay for all the trips, we really didn't need a lot of money, although we didn't do the Havana trip, dolphin swim or trip to Trinidad because we did all of them last year, nor did we do the day trip to Jamaica because that was expensive at $200 per person plus $20 to leave the country (we considered we could get a family holiday for that at home so we gave that day trip a miss) the only other stuff on offer to pay for was horse riding along the beach for $8 and A boat that went up with a glider on the beach for $30 each.

The beach in Cayo coco is typically Caribbean although it does have a fair bit of seaweed on it, the sea is blue, sand is white and dolphins did come in to swim within 25 yards of the beach three times whilst we were there, we were delighted when we first saw a baby with it's parents swimming in the sea but we were even more delighted when 8/9 dolphins came in to say hello,...

...cigs are between $0.50 cents and $2.00 per pack depending which you smoke if you run out of duty free cigs , cheap cigars are $1 each, Havana rum to bring back is $5 litre and Havana cigars are $40 for 5 (£25 each in the UK)

We didn't get told about the V.I.P lounge by the JMC rep so we asked her if they had one we could book when we arrived as we knew from last year it only has 24 places, so book it as soon as you get there if you want it, it costs $20 per person but you get fast check in, an air con lounge with comfy seats free drinks and food and first boarding of the plane (well worth $20 especially if the plane is delayed because the airport is very small,hot and packed with not enough seats to go around) our kids were drinking cans of pop in the lounge and took 8 unopened onto the plane for the journey home….I wish I'd taken just $500 and my credit card because you really don't need loads of money in Cuba.

The only thing I was a bit down on was that we took a lot of things with us for the Cubans from medical supplies to educational stuff for the schools, but wasn't able to give them out as the government has put a stop on tourists visiting schools, in addition to which only Cuban workers are allowed on the cayo coco island so the only chance we had to give the stuff to the poorer people was on the trip to moron, if we ever go back again to cayo coco I think i would only take tin openers, scissors and shears for the gardeners as gifts next time, as the hotel staff are the rich Cubans but watching the gardeners split a coconut with a machete, trim grass with a scythe or open a tin with a sharp knife sent shivers down my spine.

I hope this has given you some insight to the sol club and that you have a really good time there, if there is anything else you would like to know about then please ask, we are still a bit jet lagged has we only got home yesterday so I apologise if I've missed something.

My overall opinion of this hotel is 100% especially if you are taking kids, I would certainly go back there and the kids are desperate to go back.

Jan

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2004

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