imported_ERTW

you;re getting the wrong idea here.. there are legitimate businesses there where you rent a house for the night. you get a receipt, it is taxed by the government and it costs the same as a hotel room, but it much nicer and better

imported_JoonyaSI

meh ... i just dont find it necessary to get another hotel and leave our existing one empty thats all ... i mean we are FOR SURE gonna check out havana .. but stayin over prolly wont happen .. y leave our free booze free food .. free room to spend more money

imported_ERTW

for the experience and adventure.. how often do you get to spend a night in havana? who cares if it costs you a little...

imported_Joe_98Si

Went to Cuba last year on march break, it was a bomb time

tipping goes a huge way, same with small little gifts that are just everyday run of the mill items too us

last tip, drink your face off, i know i did

imported_Bruce Fee

**** th emaids... i treat them like **** and don't want them doing anything in my room but giving me more bottled water. they suck.

i decorated my room with skull stuff from the party store last year.

barcelo is good times man... la rhumba actually has some locals depending on the night... havana club, locals aren't allowed unless you pay for them... hehe

RDub99

iTrader: (1)

LOL, did anyone else catch this?

anyways if it's all inclusive just hang out on the beach or at the pool and get drunk all day.. tip the bartender and they'll hook you up..

imported_JoonyaSI

what is there to catch ...

we looked up our hotel choices on Travel Advisor where they give them a rating out of 5 ...

we only searched hotels in the 4 - 4.5 star range cause 5 star is pure old ppl and honeymooners ...


2 diffrent rate scales .... did i miss something ?

ginacivic

Ah Cuba.....I would love to be there right now. I had the best time in November. Met so many great people and had a wicked time.

imported_climax

I went to this hotel last year, I have photos of it if you want me to post them up. I really enjoyed my stay there... The food was pretty decent, I was expecting bad, it was pretty good. The only bad food was the breakfast, it was pretty bad other than that food was decent...

Bring a Lock for your bag, as of recent there have been complaints about people breaking into the hotel and taking things from peoples bags, some say its the maids taking from peoples bags...
If you get something stolen and report it, the workers at the desk will say the regular maid is on vacation and there is nothing they can do... this is what ive heard on multiple occasions so just bring a lock for your bag..

When you get to the airport, carry your bag to the bus on your own, there are going to be guys that try and do it for you and demand a tip...

If the line at the airport is long to change your money, just do it at the hotel... remember they do not accept canadian change..

Its best to buy the Cigars in the hotel if you plan to. Id recommend going to Havana for a day trip, which the hotel offers...Also the Tropicana club is really cool...
Theres a 5$ bus trip that goes through Varadero as well...worth seeing, you see all the resorts, the mall, downtown varadero, its a small trip but worth it..you can also get off the bus and get back on with that pass if you want to go into that mall/ or downtown..

If theres anything else I can remember Ill post it up, this hotel was pretty nice and was a good time.. service was pretty good. Have fun

Edit: The reasoning for bringing items such as toothpastes and toothbrushes is because they are hard to get in cuba, even the well off people can not get them.. There are people with cell phones that drive decent cars that have hard time getting these items..

You can leave these items with local people, school kids, theres actually a school near the resort (kind of anyway), or the people serving you at the hotel... They really are happy about it when you give them these items. Some people donate crayons and coloring books to the kids as well..

Ill post some pictures up soon..

imported_Joe_98Si

That happend too me, right as i walk out of the door of the airport to go to my bus, i was rushed by like 3 guys one grabbed my bag and put it on his little cart, I thought i was getting jacked....then took it to the bus and asked for tip, I just tossed him a toonie

imported_Bruce Fee

we take a bike lock and attach it our bags to a nighttable or something... then the few valuables like electronics go in the safe.. and usually i'm in bed when the maids are walking around so i tend to be there when they're replacing my towels.

imported_climax

Yeah they would replace our towels in the day time, in general while we were not there, We had our stuff locked anyway... Ive also heard of right when people get there they put their bags in the room then go check out the resort leaving the bags on the bed and things have gone missing..

imported_Bruce Fee

i always assume everyone in a thief on vacation

imported_JoonyaSI

yea im def investing in some lockin system for us too ....cause were takin some expensive **** down .. ie 2 video cams and a laptop to toss all our meida on when our storage gets full ....


from what u guys have heard .. is there like a "master key" for the safes .. like if i toss expensive **** in the safes should i have to worry about it still ?

imported_climax

Tossing stuff in safes should be alright...You can always lock it in your bag to be really safe..

Remember to bring a power converter if you plan on using that stuff there, when you want to charge it and all.. they use 220V I believe...

Also, They are going to search your laptop bag if you have it seperate and ask you what the laptop is for and look at it and all that stuff.

imported_climax

Here are some pictures from when I was at Barcelo Solymar Last year, They were actually doing some renovations on some parts that I didnt take pictures of..

Im no photographer and didnt have the best camera but you will get the idea...

The Bar inside the resort, 24 hours of course


Beach


Beach Bar, 24 hours, lots of people were there at night partying and all


View of beach from hotel



Benz Taxi infront of Hotel


Hotel Front


View from room


Inside resort



Id love to go again before Castro kicks the bucket but doesnt look like that will happen..
Im sure you will have a great time there, the resort was great..

imported_JoonyaSI

damn .... i cant wait man this is hype .. as for the laptop .. i dunno if im gonna take it seprate .. i might jsut put it in my luggage in between like 4 towels .. cause i dont wanna have to deal with all the questions ... plus i wanna have a proper carry on luggage not a damn lappy bag .. is that possible to do ?

imported_Bruce Fee

my advice is to buy more media.. it's cheap enough... laptop is extra concern/baggage.

i put clothes in my luggage.. and carryon has all my electronics... to get my carry on you have to get threw me.. my luggage.. you can just open it when i'm not there...

imported_climax

Inside bar


Night Time at beach


Taxi


View of resort from hotel




And yes its possible to have a normal carry on bag, lots of people I saw on the plane had that.. Usually on the way there they show a movie, if you want to watch you should bring headphones though, otherwise you have to pay a dollar for crappy ones.. Or bring your ipod/ whatever you can to entertain yourself..

Flight is about 3 hours and 15 mins or so.. not bad at all..

imported_climax

Thats what I did, that way they were with me. They did question me at the cuban airport a bit about the laptop but not really a hassle.. I made sure my electronics were with me though..

They do random bag checks when your leaving the airport to go the bus... I got selected and when they found nothing they apologized about 20 times and let me through, but it took them quite a few mins to go through the bag..