Cuba 2014 in a Coconut shell

   From Beaches to Blizzards...

The harsh reality of leaving the Caribbean to return to Canada. 

To avoid a mild depression, Jesse and I usually plan our next destination while on our current vacation... It assists with the return to the homeland.

For any fellow travelers who are looking into Cuba as their next escape,
 I'll review for you the hotel we stayed at, 
outlining the pros and cons to help determine whether the
PARADISUS PRINCESS DEL MAR in Varadero is right for you!

http://www.meliacuba.com/cuba-hotels/hotel-paradisus-princesadelmar

 

The trip we booked was an all inclusive package deal through Sunwing airlines,
whom pleasantly surprised me.

For the first, and hopefully last time in our lives,
 both my husband and I's alarm clocks did not go off the morning of our flight.

4:30am, we are lying in our bed in Niagara on the Lake, with a minimum hour drive to Toronto ahead of us, before our flight takes off at 6:10am.

I'll spare the language choices of the morning, and the boring details, and skip to the fact that we arrived at the Toronto Pearson airport at 5:45am, and made It on the plane by 6:06am. This was pure "Vidal luck", as we happened to run into the Sunwing manager who bypassed us through customs.

After a delicious hot breakfast (surprisingly good for plane food),
and a couple complimentary glasses of champagne,

We arrived to Cuba.

Took a couple more drinks before we realized, we were really there.

Needless to say, Sunwing gets my vote.

When choosing a resort, we narrow it down by star rating, adults only and overall ranking on trip advisor.

When booking, we opted for the Royal Service Package.

Being the trip advisor geek I am, I concluded this was the way to go.

 

Here's my critique on the ROYAL SERVICE end of the resort vs NON ROYAL SERVICE:

 

PROS
 

Butler Service

• Every dinner was A La Carte ..all reserved by our butler whenever, and wherever we wanted to go. If we wanted to eat at the same place every night, Hester would be happy to book it for us.
• Personal cabanas in which our butler would reserve for us with our towels every morning
• Two private restaurants only royal service guests have access to
• A 24 hour room service menu.. including a CUSTOM PILLOW menu
• Turn Down service mid day if you happened to "romp" in the afternoon
• Drinks constantly served to your lounge chair - large, boozy drinks
• Beautiful beach with a full bar
• Modern rooms and pool side
• Personal taxi to and from the airport
• In room massages - a 25 minute free for Royal guests
• For Cuban standards - great food
• Outstanding Pina coladas

*Pina on the left, Royal Service. Pina on the right, not.

 

CONS

Non Royal Service

• If you did not pay the premium rates, you did not get more than 2 A La Carte dinners... in which you had to wait in a 2 hour line to book on the first day of your vacation.. No thanks.
• You had to get up at the latest 6am to get a chair by the pool
• Drinks were the size of a shot glass.. and tasted terrible
•  The rooms were older, and not well maintained
• No bar on the beach...... 
•  A 2 hour bus ride to and from the airport even tho it's only a 40 minute taxi
• The beds were hard... even in the Royal section
• Oceanview was NOT oceanview.. it was "dead plant" view
• The wine.. ohhhhh the wine..Cuba is CERTAINLY not known for good wine.

That all aside, my NUMBER ONE tip... aside from making sure your alarm clocks work is...

 Upgrade your room once you get there!
DO NOT be the sucker I was and pay ridiculous prices for some thing that will end up costing you a fraction of the price once you get there.


Well, I'm pina colada'ed out..


and ready to crack open a few good bottles of vino!


Happy trip planning!