Firstly, I am a very fair, understanding and accurate person when considering all of the facts, so read this with confidence. We as a family have been to Cuba before and are very aware of the cuisine.
On arrival we were allocated 4 different rooms until we found one acceptable. (poor start) on the first day we noticed the two pools were different colour, one being normal and the other greenish, it appeared to be in need of some chlorine.The other most astonishing thing was that the hotel main area was constructed on a swamp like area and stunk unpleasantly, as you will imagine most activity went on around this area, walking to the restaurant, bars and so on.
The beach however was fantastic, however this was not created by the hotel only the Lord above.I must say that from the lobby area looking down onto the pools it does look very nice, but so did my first wife, looks are Not everything.
Well here we go– Food for breakfast finding a table was one of the most difficult things to do, then most mornings if not all we waited for plates, then we would wait for some bacon then we would have to wait for eggs/omelette, which resulted in a coldish breakfast. ( unacceptable ) During the first week the coffee machine did not work properly and functioned fully about 3 days, however on the second week it functioned 4 amazing times.But still the coldish breakfast, we did vary our approach but the results were the same.
Lunch, guess what ? it was very similar. However in defence of the hotel I must mention that the evening meal was even WORSE. Most evenings tables were not available and you had to be very assertive to get one, for example hang around a family that were nearly finished from their meal.You had on average 1 waiter to approx 10 tbls, (very poor )
All of my concerns were taken up with the Director general personally after 3 days, I did explain to him that with more staff these issues would be resolved, ( very simple really ) he thanked me for my contribution and opinion and DONE absolutely F A - means nothing in English last word is all and first word rhymes with duck.
All of the above mentioned concerns would be resolved if the management done their job correctly. Truthfully the waiting staff were put under so much pressure and also it was obvious that staff were needed around the kitchen area as well.
Choice of food was terrible, which resulted in my evening song every day : I feel like chicken tonight, thats an English advert.
I must say though, in the other eating areas the food was edible and the waiter service was far better, with a staff table ratio of 1/3.
I could mention so much more but feel you will get the drift from the above.
We have heard that this hotel will be closing for 2 yrs whilst they revamp it, i would suggest changing the management.
After speaking to one of the waiting staff it was made clear just how the management take a cut out of the staffs tips, which I strongly disagree with. IF I wanted them to have anything it would be something more like a warm fluid type that i experienced on the toilet.
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Posted in: Hotel Reviews
Lonely Planet’s lightning guide to the South Pacific Island of Fiji.
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Posted in: Destination Videos
Lonely Planet’s lightning guide to the Pacific island of Hawaii just off the coast of the USA.
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Posted in: Destination Videos
In this video, I travel to the Island of Cyprus down on the Mediterranean, where perhaps surprisingly, Greek is the main language. I came to Cyprus to hang out with my friends and to go to the wedding of my friends David and Andrea. In true “me” fashion, I go exploring and have a BLAST.
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Posted in: Destination Videos
Travel to the fabulous island of Mykonos in Greece, where the wealthy play, the decadent flourish and the beautiful people languish. Visit the beaches, travel the streets of Old Town, visit the Wind Mills and enjoy the sunset.
Editor Note: Those are not my words incidentally!! Greek mythology has it that this Island is where the battle between Zeus and the Gigantes took place. See? You learn something new and totally useless every day!
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Posted in: Destination Videos
The second visit to the Maldives and we did things a little differently, veering off the package holiday route, but had an equally fantastic time in a slightly more “natural” habitat on Asdu Sun Island which is an hour speed-boat ride from Malé airport. Asdu is different to Kanuhura in several ways - it’s less “purpose built” and more basic/informal, plenty of trees in a more natural habitat and a smaller Island all round - without the 5* touches, but much more of that “middle of nowhere” feeling which is, I have to say, fantastic.
You sit on the white sandy beach during the day looking out at….nothing! Not a thing in sight. Robinson Crusoe this is! You can walk right round the Island in, ooh, 10 minutes, it’s that small. It only had around 25 guest rooms, a central restaurant, and catering mainly for visitors on diving holiday packages, is quiet during the day because they all sail out to the reef to, well “dive” I guess! Not that it will ever get busy with so few rooms!
It’s a more rustic feeling, basic yet very clean rooms, but it’s also a very cheap holiday by Maldives standards. We did this …
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Posted in: Holiday Reviews
Sometime back in the 80’s, when I was a mere youngster, before the days of this amazing Interweb thingy, I remember seeing an advert in a glossy magazine for a package holiday to an amazing looking place called the Maldives. It was what has now become the sterotypical package holiday brochure image depicting paradise - the palm tree, white beach, glistening blue lagoon and the distant outline of a small Island - and I remember thinking “one day, I’m GOING to go there!” The trouble is of course, the pics in the brochure are always touched up, taken from the “right angle” and generally the best possible advert…the real thing never lives up to the image.
Or so I thought. When I returned from my first package holiday to the Maldives in 2001 (one of Kuoni’s Far and Away holiday packages), my answer to people who asked what it was like was “it’s the only place I’ve ever been where the reality is better than the pictures!”. Which is probably why I went back again in 2006 and will be going back again as soon as I can, and probably again after that (repeat to fade). I’m not normally one to go back to the same place twice in quick succession, but the Maldives is definitely the exception …
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Posted in: Holiday Reviews