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Grand Playa Turquesa by Occidental - Holguin —  [more info]
Location: Beachfront - 60 minutes from Frank Pais Holguin International Airport
All-inclusive - 500 rooms
Description from resort website: 5 Restaurants - 6 Bars One of the most beautiful aspects of the resort, is that the 7 swimming pools are connected by waterfalls. There is an infinity pool, 2 children's pool, relaxation pool and an activities pool. - Kids Club from 0 to 13 years old - Snorkelling - Aerobics - Aqua aerobics - Waterpolo - Tennis court - Windsurf - Kayak - Gym
 ~ Reviews posted on this page — 40
 ~ Map of Resort
 ~ Reader's Vacation Photos 1,
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| Last Updated:
28 Augustus, 2009 |
| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Cindy ~ Nova Scotia |
May 2009
Arrival:
This Review is mainly for our last trip...April 10 -24 2009. We were on the last of 3 buses arriving at the resort. When I stepped off the bus I was greeting by the Guest Services Manager. She asked for our hotel vouchers and told us to relax why she checked us in. There was 22 of us....Love VIP Check In.
Rooms:
The rooms were great...I had requested certain rooms and we all got the rooms we wanted...one of the many benefits of being return guests.
Our room was 516...a bunglow very close to the beach and pools. The maid was wonderful and cleaned our room very well every day. We always had lots in our mini fridge...the guy who filled our fridge was very nice and always left us whatever we asked for...and lots of extra bottles of water.
Restaurants and Bars:
We ate mostly at the buffet...never had any problem finding something we liked to eat. It did seem that this year there was alot more seafood at the buffet than there was in other years. We love seafood so this was a bonus.
Every morning our waitress friend would have our tables reserved for us...and also at lunch ....being such a large group ..this was great...we all sat close together and not scattered around. We ate at all the restaurants and enjoyed them all.
We spent most of our evenings relaxing at the Sports Bar....drinks were always plentiful...most times refills would arrive without even asking...another perk of being return guests..."Friends"...alot of the staff "know" us.
We enjoyed most of our afternoons at the Pool Bar.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
The beach has changed due to the hurricane...less trees. Our group did alot of snorkelling while there.They took some amazing underwater pictures. We spented every morning on the beach...never had any problem getting a beach chair. You just tell the chair guy how many and where you wanted them and he would bring them for you. The grounds look wonderful considering a major hurricane had done so much damage.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
We enjoyed the daily entertainment at the Pool Bar...and some of our group took part in a few of the activites....which gave a us a good laugh. The entertainment staff are great...some of our group became great friends with them and spent time with them back stage before the evening shows playing cards or dominos.
we did the Paradise Island excusion. It was amazing...catamaran ...snorkelling...lunch on an island. We also paid and extra 9 pesos and did the jeep tour on the island...a must....it was wonderful...lots of animals to see and a great tour of the island....not to mention FUN!!!
Other Comments:
We were invited to plant flowers in the Friendship Garden which is located behind the walk way between the Sports Bar and Stage. We had 2 two year olds with us...their second trip to the resort....they planted roses in the childrens garden...my daughter and her husband...who were married at the resort the year before ..planted roses in the Anniversary Garden...then everyone palnted a flower in another part of the Garden. My brother inlaw and sister inlaw planted trees also becasue they have been to the resort 7 times.
There was a small ceremony explaining the Garden and its meanings....we all felt very Honored to be asked to be part of the Friendship Garden.
we were also invited to a Special dinner....but we were late getting back from our excursion so we were not able to go. My brother inlaw and sisiter inlaw did go and they said it was wonderful.
As I had mentioned...my daughter was married on the beach at the GPT last year and the wedding was amazing.
We are looking forward to returning next April.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Francine |
April 2009
just returned from OGPT.. april 10-17th
group of 14..
lots of theft.. beware...
one guy in our party had his $50 AE swimtrunks stolen.. his $150 electric razor.. from his room..
the son of another lady in our party had his IPOD stolen from the room..
another lady we met up with had $200 stolen from her room (should have been in the safe)
another guy, a pharmacist we met up with from our region.. had his expensive sunglasses and hat stolen.. he went for a walk in the woods and met up with who he thought appeared to be a local.. wearing his stuff.. they guy joked with him and asked him if they were his glasses.. the guy snatched them back and said yes they were..
very disapointed in this resort.. this was only my third trip to cuba.. and this resort is the last on my list ..
to quote another fellow traveller that we met up with :
" Also, beware (if you have younger children or teenagers) that a child can and will be served liqour if you are not there with them. There was one incident at the snack bar, where an eleven year old was served rum in her drink, then the bartender laughed about it when confronted about it. I was not impressed! "
our four boys.. ages 12, 13, 13, 14 ordered the blue sky and it also had rum in it!!!!! grrrrr...
the food was not bad.. not much of a variety compared to last years.. seems they were always slow at replenishing..
the lay out was not for me.. and i was aware of that from the reviews.. but i much prefer going down the elevator/stairs from my room and being in the lobby.. walk out to the pool and then the beach.. didnt care for hiking to the lobby for a drink..
the beach was nice.. however the seagrass that i read about was not so great.. this first beach i go to in cuba that had seagrass..
also our check out was at 6 am... there was two bus loads.. and only one guy on duty with one golf cart.. long wait to get to the lobby.. waited 30 mins.. upon arrival there was 2-3 guys on duty to bring us and our luggage to our rooms..
our maid was very young and we got towel art maybe once.. our kids first time were disapointed.. we did however leave lots of gifts etc for the maid daily..
some staff were wonderful.. very pleasant.. some were not.. a smile goes a long ways..
if this had been my first vacation down south.. and had nothing to compare it to.. i am sure other then the theft i would have no complaints.. for now Sol Luna Mares remains my favourite!!
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Sandra ~ Southampton, England |
April 2009
Stayed 2003, 2004, 2007
I can't understand some of the complaints that people have written. How petty they are. We have been to this resort on 3 occasions and are looking forward to going back later this year. Last time we went without our kids and staff even remembered their names and asked why they weren't with us. Our boys absolutely loved both their trips to this hotel and want to go back when they can afford it. People need to chill out when they are on holiday. They also need to be more respectful towards the Cuban people. They are incredibly friendly and always smiling and helpfull. I have recommended this hotel to friends and colleagues who have also been and some are even planning to go back again aswell. Absolutely brilliant place. Upon arrival last time it felt like 'getting home'. Please go and enjoy.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Hamish ~ Toronto |
April 2009
Arrival: April 4 - 11
Flight was Canjet from Toronto - we reserved seats ahead of time, front row - Canjet flies 737s which are nice, Canjet crews were very positive and helpful. Food was a quick snack, no issues.
Rooms
Rooms are 4 unit cubes spread around the resort, each unit has its own generous-sized balcony with a coffee table and two hammock-chairs. Nicely laid out, electric service was 220v - we used the shaver outlet in the bathroom to charge our kids' DS's. Shower water was warm at best only after running it for five mins, they use solar heat for water, didn't really consider this a factor but if you want a warmer shower, take it in the afternoon. Our room was 344 sort of in the middle "neighbourhood", easily accessible by walking or by the frequent golf carts that orbit the resort. Daily maid service were polite and positive, the usual towel-swans, lobster.. ours made interesting face shapes out of gnurled blankets as well. Drinks are refilled by a separate person, so find him if you have requests for extras.
Restaurants and Bars
Hacienda buffet was fine all the way through, had some theme days during the week, wait staff all positive and friendly. Food was on par for Cuba - the hot stations were willing to cut down on the oil or salt if requested. Kids appreciated the pancakes, spaghetti, french fries, etc available daily. If you like Maple Syrup bring your own, they don't know what it is here (obviously)... local ketchup is not Heinz bring that if you prefer, Cuban style is closer to 'natural' tomato ketchup, i.e sweeter. We ate at the Grill (good), Italian (good) and Cuban (ugh) restaurants. Reservations were no difficulty but the lineup could be a pain - none of the restos were overbooked when we dined, 6:30pm each night, the first sitting as we have kids.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
Beautiful as everyone else seems to have said. The pools were very nice, kept pretty clean considering all the numbnuts tracking sand into the pool - by end of day, a bit gritty but overnight cleaning dealt with it. Pool bars were as usual, friendly bartenders, some stuntmen with amusing methods for mixing drinks. They will fill ANY thermos container with the appropriate(?) proportions of drinks - there were people with mini-kegs that took almost an entire 70cl bottle of rum, then 1/3 more for TuCola on top... Amazing. If you forget to bring a thermos cup they sell them for 7CUC in the shop. Shop was fine, not a huge selection but the essentials were there. The beach was nice but I got a bunch of no-see-um bites - rest of my family unscathed (1-2 bites each for the week, I had 20 or so). Lobby has a Cadeca foreign exchange right there, fair price so no issues about money for the week. Reception will break x
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
We took advantage of the terrific (!) mini club, our kids, (4 and 7) liked it a lot, largish building is in its own fenced-off area close to the main pool area, has its own kid-depth pools with mini deck chairs. Rooms for parties, play, sleep cots, etc.. Supervision is by two nice female staff, who also run the kids' programme after 8pm each night in the theatre. There is also a generous-sized playground area.
We went on the Ocean Paradise catamaran excursion ($317CUC two adults two kids) to Cayo Saetia - very nice, cat crew were lovely, funny people, the captain let my 7-yr old son drive the boat for a good while, he had a ball! the beach restaurant on Cayo Saetia lost its lower deck due to Hurricanes but otherwise unaffected. Food very good. Snorkeling, lazing on pristine white beach, lovely. We also did the Guardalavaca shopping trip ($9CUC pp 1/2 for kids), good selection of curios, etc, nice easy going horse-buggy ride afterward. I hired a cab into Holguin for the day ($85CUC return), dropped me in the main square picked up at 3:30pm, Holguin is busy but friendly, most people just moving around doing their business. Some good cafes. Holguin city had most of its decent art and furnishings taken to Havana during the "Special Period" so the city is only beginning to reclaim its artistic senses. Lots of types offering rum and cigars but they weren't overly pushy.
Poolside 'animacion' was typical, if anyone feels like it bring down a few CDs of current dance tunes to donate to freshen up the selection, they seemed to play the same five-six songs every day to accompany their announcements. The high levels of Canadians added a unique flavour to some of the activities - one singing competition featured five Newfoundlanders all rocking shanties and even a little O Canada.
Other Comments
Cuba is a wonderful country - mostly because of the people. They have to put up with the Castro regime on the one hand and hurricanes on the other, it's not an easy life but they really, really try hard to put a positive face on for visitors. There doesn't seem to be be much fear left about speaking freely to tourists about what their lives are like outside of the tourist context, which is refreshing. Read today that Obama is relaxing restrictions on travel for Cuban family in the US to visit their relatives so things are going to change quickly, hopefully for the better.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Lindsay ~ Paris |
April 2009
Arrival: March 14 - 21
Flight was on time. We were checked in quickly and met with friendly staff and welcome cocktales and appetizers (the best cookies I had all week were during this welcome time)
Rooms
We were travelling in a group of 30 for OUR wedding and we had requested rooms close to the main pool. Unfortunately we did not get this. However, my room was located in the 500's which was lovely. A few family members with mobility issues requested ground level rooms the next day and were moved within 2 days. Rooms were VERY clean, air conditioning worked very well.
Restaurants and Bars
This resort provides an EXCELLENT amount of choices for food and drinks! We were very pleased with all of the staff here!! Very friendly. We loved the Mediteranian, Italian and Grill a la carte restaurants. The 24 hour snack bar was great as well. We also really enjoyed the variety available at the buffet. We were prepared for the worst ketchup EVER, but it was not THAT bad. We loved the pasta available at the buffet, prepared as you like. The omelete station was a fav at breakfast, these were also made as you order!!! LOVED THE STAFF, I can't say that enough.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Lovely pools, well kept flowers and grounds. It was truly wonderful that you could look out over the top pool and see all of the other pools and the beach. At times later in the day it was difficult to get lounge chairs around the pools, but on any given day between the beach and pool you could find something even later in the day.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
We loved the water sports available at the resort, many of us went out on the hobby cats, we enjoyed tipping these boat operators as they shared many stories and clearly appreciate everything they get. Kayaks and windsurfing are also included in packages. Snorkelling/catamaran trip was a favourite off resort tour in our group.
Other Comments
We were a little nervous about this resort based on previous reviews, but I think those were posted by high maintenance people who are generally unhappy ppl. I want to start by saying I have travelled to many resorts in Cuba, Mexico and the Dominican. I have many experiences to compare this resort to. This was the trip of a lifetime for us as we got married and spent a week with our closest family and friends. The staff and wedding planner were very accomadating. They created the day of my dreams. Ceremony on the beach, first dance in a heart of flower petals on the beach. Champagne toast on the beach. Great reception. Excellent photographer. We got breakfast in bed the next day, nightly turndown service, late checkout, and champagne in our room. We plan to go back and have heard similar plans from other people in our group. Please remember when travelling to Cuba they appreciate EVERYTHING. My aunt brought bras for the cleaning staff and they expressed major appreciation about this gift. Shoes/footwear are apparently one of the hardest things for locals to get. In the future I will bring flip flops and other types of footwear to leave. My father in law was also speaking to some of the male servers and they said that left handed baseball gloves are VERY difficult to get, if you happen to have any of these at home, they would also appreciate this. They are such lovely people it is the least we can do for them. We had no problems with bugs as other people had stated. We highly recommend the Occidental Grand Playa Turquesa!!!!!!!!
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Heather ~ Nova Scotia |
March 2009
Arrival: March 20 to March 27
Fligt was good from Halifax,when we arrived at the airport in Holquin, the Airtranst person was waiting outside the airport with a sign to take us to the resort, the bus was waiting for us with the air conditioning running and took us directly to our resort, which when we got there they moved us through quickly even though a flight had there that morning at 6 am.
Rooms
rooms were clean, spacious, nice comfortable patio furniture, did not feel like you was in a hotel room, plenty of closet space to hang clothes up
Restaurants and Bars
the restaurants were good, good variety of food for the people that were even fussy, the bars were good, they people treated you very good, the service was fast and efficent.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
the beach was cleaned every morning by hand as soon as you walked on the beach someone was there to take a chair whereever you wanted to sit, the two bars on the beach were very good, the barbeque was very good on the beach, the grounds were kept very clean at all times, the pools were very cleaned, they were cleaned every early before the pools were opened,there was chairs around the pools the only thing is some people think that they should claim the chairs every morning when there is other people on the resort.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
at the beach they had Hobbycats were excellent, paddle boats were available, snorkle gear was available for free, we went on a couple of tours, the buses were there to pick you up and bring you back, the people on the tours were very good and made sure you got back to your resorts, there was also scooters, bicyles to use.
Other Comments
the entertainment that they had was good, the only thing that I see is that they could have had more entertainment around the grounds at different times of the day and evening, out of 10 would say it was a 9, the people that was working were very friendly and looked after you to make sure everything was good.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Mark ~ Canada |
March 2009
Arrival
No line up or hassles checking in. We were promptly brought to our room in a golf cart.
Rooms
Nice size, very clean, everything worked fine. Some people we traveled with had some problems but they were addressed quickly and one of them they got to change rooms to be relocated to a better spot.
Restaurants and Bars
I found the food good but I did not go expecting much. Lunch and diner were somewhat different each day. Most of the staff at the buffet restaurants were very friendly and very quick with their service.
I only ate at one a la carte, the cuban restaurant, and found it was similar to what we could get at the buffet, so we cancelled our other reservation for the Italian restaurant.
The bar tenders at the beach and pool bars were excellent. The 24 hour bar got kind of busy in the afternoon just before and after diner.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
The grounds are very nice and clean and well kept. The beach was really clean and there were always enough loungers available. It's a private beach and is pretty big, lots of space to wander off to a quieter spot away from everyone. There are tennis courts that were always empty and in pretty good shape.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
I went on a snorkling catamaran tour. The staff were excellent. The snorkeling was OK, lots of dead coral. The food served was OK. Overall a very fun tour though.
I took a shuttle bus to Guardalavaca. Not much there, only a few other resorts and a small market to buy souvenirs. The return time for the shuttle bus was much longer than we wanted to stay for, so we decided to take a taxi back(12 pesos).
Other Comments
I thought this place was great, and had a great week there. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a nice place that is somewhat isolated.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Bev ~ Ottawa |
March 2009
Arrival: Feb 14 - 21
We arrived late in the evening and were pleasantly surprised to find no line-up at the check in. What did surprise us was how vast this resort is and how long the ride to our room seemed.
Rooms
Terrific! Two beds pushed together to make a king size arrangement. Not an issue. The room was clean and the balcony had two hammock chairs. Only negative were the tiny ants that sporadically appeared.
Restaurants and Bars
The food was fine. We'd read some fairly negative reviews but we quite enjoyed the food especially the grill counter. We didn't bother with the a la carte restaurants.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
We didn't spend a lot of time at the beach but the three times we did go there resulted in maybe a hundred tiny bug bites. Walking on the beach anywhere near the seaweed resulted in effervescent pin pricking feelings on the lower legs. When I got home, I had several days of itchiness to manage.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
We went on two excellent excursions - Cuban Life and Cuba Inside. We stupidly left our souvenirs in the van at the end of the Cuban Life tour and the Transat reps seemed to be powerless to persuade "Miguel" to return our goods. On the last day we were told he had forgotten to bring our souvenirs and that we should contact Transat in Montreal to get them back. We were very disappointed. so far they have not been returned.
Other Comments
Another lesson learned. When our baggage came off the plane in Cuba and we picked it up at the baggage area, my lock had been removed and several days later I realized that my small DVD player had been taken. We checked on the Internet before packing that item and were aware that DVD players,previously banned, are now allowed into Cuba. Our mistake was in not having it in our carry on. Word to the wise. Everything valuable goes in carry on. If the Cuban authorities decide to confiscate something, at least they have to do some paperwork and you have a chance of getting your property back. In stowed baggage, there is no proof and no recourse.
Notwithstanding the loss of the DVD player and our souvenirs, we had a wonderful vacation and would definitely go back to the GPT and to Cuba in general. We highly recommend the excursions where you see some of what Cuban life is all about. You can swim with the dolphins anywhere. Skip that and meet some Cubans.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Linda ~ St. Catharines |
February 2009
Arrival: Jan 24 - Jan 31
Uneventful - very efficient at check-in. We went to the room by golf cart.
Rooms:
No air conditioning when we first arrived - also, the bathroom smelled of sewer gas. The air was fixed by evening.
Restaurants and Bars:
We were ignored at Bartolos snack bar when we tried to get food on the first day, after a long flight - it took about an hour for a sandwich to arrive. I think it was the one waitress, as she was the same whereever she was stationed.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Pools are beautiful - beach is not nice. Bring water shoes, and do not walk too far, the beach is filthy at either end.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
We took a bus ride to Guardalavaca and walked along the beach to check out other resorts and went to the market. The other resorts had superior beaches.
Other Comments:
I would not go back to this hotel, there are far nicer in Cuba
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Chrstina ~ Toronto |
February 2009
Arrival:
We have been to Cuba twice before, and stayed at two other resorts in Holguin on Playa Pesquero. We have also vacationed at other resorts in the Caribbean. This was by far the WORST resort we have ever been to. It deserves a rating of 1 out of 10.
The biggest issue (which we have never encountered before) was an attempt on the part of the hotel to tell guests that they had broken things in their room (irons, vases, etc) and then charge the guests to 'replace' when checking out. One man on our plane was told that he had 'broken' the iron... there was a tiny chip in the plastic casing that had been there since before he and his family arrived. No one in his family had touched the iron. The hotel charged him the full replacement value of the iron, and then objected when he tried to take the 'broken' one home! Another lady was charged for a vase. If you didn't have enough pesos left, the hotel was not equipped to let you pay by credit card. Instead, you had to convert more Canadian funds or take an advance on your credit card (with an 11% surcharge added on for this service) to pay.
We flew down with Air Canada. The plane ride was fine. Arrival was uneventful. However, the bell boy was busy, and we ended up carrying our own luggage to the room.
Rooms:
Reasonable size. 220 volt electical outlets. The lock on our patio door did not work (other guests complained of the same security problem). Hot water was not always available. The shower drain was completely clogged, and we ended up standing ankle-deep in water, and flooding the shower stall each time. There was a strong sewage smell in the room on several days. Housekeeping was poor. The electricity went out for short periods 3 or 4 times during the week.
I am not sure whether all the insect bites I got were from sand fleas or bedbugs, but I woke up with many new, itchy bites each morning. You will need to bring lots of bug repellent.
Restaurants and Bars:
Food in Cuba is always a problem. The buffet and bars were poorly stocked. On most days, the bartenders would say that they had 'run out' of vodka, gin, Baileys, and just about everything except rum and beer. So, if you like rum punch and Cuban beer, it's great. If you like anything else, you're out of luck.
The buffet was large, loud, and smelly. There was absolutely no variety from day to day. The tables were rarely cleared, and we spent a lot of time eating at tables that were full of other people's dirty dishes. If you wanted a drink brought to your table (water, juice, and other non-alcoholic beverages were not available except from the wait staff) you had to wait quite a while, and tips were always expected.
The a la carte restaurants varied. The Grill was quite good, Asian was OK, and the Italian was terrible. Bring lots of snacks from home with you.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
The pools were quite nice. However, there were many, many babies and toddlers at this resort. I love children, but I hate seeing infants in diapers in every pool in the place. The Mini-Club was empty. There was no attempt to maintain any of the pools as 'adult only' and as a result, we spent most of our time on the beach.
The beach was a disappointment. Extremely small (you can walk the length of it in 5 minutes), and quite dirty. Once you got about 500 yards away from the beach bar in either direction, the beach was not cleaned or maintained. It was littered with plastic bags, plastic containers, beer cans, and garbage. There were no umbrellas or covered areas, and they ran out of beach chairs by @ 0930 hrs each day. It was really frustrating.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
We went on the Catamaran excursion. As usual, it was very nice.
Other Comments:
Tipping is the last issue I will mention. We are used to tipping, and spent a lot of money doing so. However, with one Cuban peso now costing $1.41 Canadian, I was not willing to tip a peso for every single drink I ordered (we spent @ 15 pesos per person each day in tips). However, this was clearly expected.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Mark ~ Barrie, Ontario, Canada |
January 2009
Arrival: Dec 21 - 28, 2008
Check in was very quick and the little golf carts were waiting to take us to our room, #746, which we thought was far from everything, but once we got out and about the next day in the daylight we found it perfectly located pretty well central to everything. Very quiet area of the resort. I would suggest a windup flashlight for the evenings as there are a couple of shortcuts you can take through the woods but they aren't lit.
Rooms:
Very clean and tidy. Our room was spotless when we arrived and the maid kept it that way for our entire stay. The mini bar was stocked every day with beer, pop and bottled water.
Restaurants and Bars:
We found the food to be great. Either at an a la carte or at one of the buffets, there was lots of flavor and variety for everyone. Something we did find out from talking to people from the Playa Pesquero, who complained that their food was bland, was that the OGPT is Spanish owned and therefore they use a lot more seasoning in their cooking whereas the PP is Cuban owned and therefore the reason for the bland food. (we were told the Cubans only use pepper, cumin and garlic on all their meats). Christmas dinner was spectacular with roast whole pig, lots of roast turkey, roast beef and as many trimmings as you can think of. Plus lots of champagne and drinks. Neither one of us had any stomach problems of any kind, except over-full a lot of the times.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
All the grounds and common areas are also very clean. There are workers around all day tending to the landscaping, cleaning, and doing general maintenance. It would seem that this resort has recovered from the hurricane as all the trees have their leafs back and there were flowers blooming everywhere. As has been said in other reviews, the pools are the most outstanding feature of this resort. They are built into a hillside and are all connected by waterfalls. We found the area by the swim-up bar to be our favorite as they had entertainment there every afternoon. The beach area is very clean with plenty of room to spread out and soak up the rays. It also had music playing and organized volleyball games daily.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
Every night there was a children's show in the theatre that started around 8:00pm. This was followed by a show for the adults at around 9:00pm. These were mainly local musicians and dancers/actors. The Disco opened around 10:00pm and was a hit with the 20 something's that were there. We went one night just to see it but the music was what I would call "Euro Trash". You know the kind, same electronic drum beat for every song "BOOM" dada "BOOM" dada "BOOM" and all the songs run together. It was fun to see but being Zeppelin/Sabbath/ACDC fans one night was enough. We also went on the half day Dolphin Swim (99 CUC)which was a blast. You get 20 min to swim with the dolphins and then there are two shows, onw with the dolphins and another with Sea Lions.
Other Comments:
The resort is up to full speed following the hurricanes and seeing as we were first timers here we didn't notice anything that would indicate they had experienced any hurricanes. We weren't bothered by the bugs and I only got my first bite on the day we were leaving. My wife got a couple on her feet during the week but we took Claritin for 5 days before going there so itching was no problem. We took bug spray but never used it. The no-seeums seemed to bother the British people far worse as we saw a lot of them with badly bitten legs. Would I go back again? You bet I would, but next year it will be for 2 weeks.
mark_b@rogers.com
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Frank & Wendy ~ Hamilton Ontario |
January 2009
My husband and I recently spent a week at Occidental Grand Playa Turquesa, from Dec 27/08-Jan3/09. We are a married couple in our early fifties, travelling without kids and looking for rest and relaxation. OGPT fit the bill perfectly.
Flight
We booked an Air Transat package on-line with Sell off Vacations. A few months before we left, our flight was changed to a Canjet plane. It was a newer plane, not overly comfortable, with movies both ways. There was a problem with the coffee makers installed on the planes, so there were no hot beverages on both flights. We were delayed in Toronto for 4 ½ hours due to fog, but received free headsets for our inconvenience. Food was ham and cheese on a bun, cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, and a brownie (both ways). We touched down in Holguin at 11.00 pm, were on our way to the resort at midnight, and arrived at OGPT at 1.00 am.
Hotel
The resort is quite large, and set on a hill. The pools are located in the middle of the resort, and cascade down the hillside, with stairs on either side. The rooms are laid out in two story bungalows, with each bungalow having about 12 rooms. About 4 blocks of rooms were not open due to being renovated. Whether this was due to damage from hurricane IKE, or general upkeep due to low occupancy was not clear. There was little visible damage remaining from IKE. The grounds were well maintained and very clean.
Room
Our first room, 101, was a ground floor room located in the block closest to the lobby. It was on the main road that the carts used for bringing supplies to the 24 hour snack bar. They used golf carts with very noisy engines and cart traffic was never ending. The sound kept us awake all night. It’s not a location for light sleepers. It had a queen size bed, the daybed was missing, the curtains had no black-out liner, and a patio chair was missing its sling. The bed spread smelled of body odour. It was not a pleasant night at all. The next day we asked to be moved, and were happily accommodated. Our second room, 775, was infinitely better. It was a second story room, very clean, with two ¾ beds pushed together to make a king, a day bed, a safe in the closet, mini fridge with two beers, two pops and water, and lovely the cathedral ceilings. The room also had a coffee maker, which we tried to use twice. Both times it took over 45 minutes to brew a 2 cup pot. Not worth waiting for! The water for showers was never hot. Lukewarm would best describe it, and sometimes it was more “luke” than “warm”. We never complained about it, just took very fast showers! It took two hours for this room to be ready for us, but it was well worth the wait.
Food
There is a large buffet restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as a lunch buffet near the beach. We found the food to be quite good, considering there were still shortages due to the hurricane. There were always fresh vegetables, fruit, breads, and a variety of meats, cheeses and desserts. There were two omelet stations to keep the lines to a minimum. Breakfast was also available at the 24 hour snack bar at Don Bertolo, but we never tried it. The lunch buffets were equally as good with pasta stations, and grilling stations with a choice of pork, chicken, or fish. Salad was just cabbage the first couple of days, but lettuce was available later in the week. There were never any tomatoes, but we find there rarely is at that time of year in Cuba. Potatoes were scarce, unless you wanted French fries. There was mashed potatoes on the New Years Gala buffet, but they were a little on the runny side (I thought it was cream of wheat!!) The New Years Gala was quite extravagant with lots of seafood, roast pork, roast turkey, fresh grilled meats, and vegetables. Food seemed to be replenished quite quickly for all meals.
We were in line a full 2 hours to book our a-la-carts. We used the time we had while waiting for our room change, but it was still a bit of a frustration. By the time we got to the head of the line, the line was twice as long as when we joined it. There were many frustrated people. There has to be a better system, I just don’t know what it is. A nice idea would be to have a copy of the menus available to browse through while you are waiting. There are 5 a-la-carts in total; Asian, Cuban, Italian, Mediterranean, and Grill. With our Air Transat package, we were entitled to try all 5. The Asian was our least favorite. The rest were quite good, and the black bean soup in the Cuban was excellent. The steaks in the Mediterranean and the Grill were surprisingly tender and flavorful. No complaints at all from us in the food department.
Beach/pools
Most loungers by the pools were saved with towels by 8.00am. This didn’t bother us much as we are beach people, and you could get a lounger on the beach until about 10.00am or 10.30. After that you were out of luck. This brought on an ugly chair stealing incident by one tourist who seemed to feel she was entitled to a chair no matter what time of day she arrived at the beach because she paid good money for her vacation. (Apparently everyone else was there for free). She was confronted by the rightful owner of the chair and a foul mouthed screaming match ensued. It was truly embarrassing for all around. The only one oblivious to it was the woman in question. I’m ashamed to say she was a fellow Canadian.
The sand on the beach was white, soft and clean. The water was clear blue, and cool, but many people were able to enjoy it. Shade is at a premium, as they don’t have palapas on the beach. Natural vegetation is the only shade, and it was sparse. I don’t know if Ike played a role in that, but if you need shade at this resort, get to the beach early. I found the breeze off the ocean to be a little cool, but not so much that it drove us inland. There was probably a 2-3 degree temperature difference from the beach to the pool area, as the pools are protected from the ocean breeze by a row of trees. While we were there, there was 1 red flag day, 3 yellow flags, and 3 green. We had one day of intermittent showers which were heavy at times, but not torrential.
We walked the beach beyond the resort boundaries to find that as soon as you left the resort the shore was a total garbage dump. There were old plastic containers, shoes, you name it. There were hundreds of tiny plastic bags, about 3x6 inches. We picked one up and found it was labeled drinking water for Haiti. It is a shame that humanitarian aid for one country could be such a litter problem for another.
Bars
There are many bars scattered around the resort, and there was rarely any waiting during the day. Service was good and the drinks were cold, what more could you ask for. The lobby bar was quite busy in the evening, and often only had one bartender on duty, and one waitress. This bar closes at 10.30, but if you want a drink after 10.10 you are out of luck. The 24 hour bar is the place to be, and it also gets very busy at night. They have quite a few bartenders and servers, but the volume of guests still make for a bit of a wait, but nothing too extreme. If you want a quick drink with no waiting between the hours of 9.00pm and 11.pm, go to the disco. It’s open, but there’s no one around but you and the bartender!
Entertainment
There are shows nightly at the theatre, but we did not partake. We have seen so many of them that they all seem the same, and quite frankly they’re just not our thing. There were beach and pool activities as well, but again, we were there to relax and recharge our batteries, so we did not join in.
Excursions
We only did one small excursion. We took the tourist bus to the Guardalavaca flea market for 5 pesos each, and then took a horse and buggy ride around the village for $15 pesos. The driver gave us a bit of insight into Cuban life and a bit of history. It was quite an enjoyable morning. We were back at the resort by noon.
In Summary, we had a nice holiday at a lovely resort with good service and friendly staff. We did not experience any bug bites whatsoever (and didn’t use repellant), yet we saw other people covered with them. We met some lovely internet friends who made our stay even more pleasant. I would not hesitate to recommend this resort. Sorry if this review is too long. Hope it helps.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Chris ~ Ottawa Canada |
December 2008
Rooms: Generally comfortable, if a bit sparse. The major problem was that every afternoon, the smell of sewer gas entered the hotel room, most likely because of poor venting of the plumbing – the smell was the worst in the bathroom, where gas seemed to rise from the shower drain (or perhaps from the septic fields). It was not severe, but a bit off-putting. I gather it is a problem throughout Cuba where building codes are not well understood.
Major drawback: screaming children seemingly everywhere you go. Parents who travel with their children are really the most impossible kind of traveller, imposing their children’s tantrums on everyone in a 100-yard vicinity. No matter where I went, I couldn’t seem to get away from remarkably badly behaved screaming children – stunningly, parents don’t seem to hear their own obnoxious children. Screaming children at the pool; at the piano bar; at the pool bar; at the beach – shrieking children were everywhere except at the children’s supervised play area. This exceptionally poor behaviour of parents was not the hotel’s fault. Honestly, selfish parents ruined my vacation.
Parents: if you haven’t taught your children basic manners, you simply should not be traveling with them. Leave them at home.
Food: vast and generous buffet selection; only the pickiest of eaters would have trouble here.
Beach: Don’t dig your feet in the sand: the itch from the microscopic sand fleas will stay with you after your return to Canada.
Day trip: I took the snorkeling trip. Spectacular though it was, I cannot recommend it. The catamaran sets anchor on a coral reef with an enormous rip tide and it is very easy to find yourself carried a great distance away from the snorkeling group by the current. On the reef, I was confronted by a barracuda the same size as me. Breathtaking. Often, you have to swim hard against the current to the point of exhaustion to rejoin the group or the boat. Combining all these potential risks with the service of hard liquor on the catamaran: it all seemed like a negligence lawsuit waiting to happen. I’m surprised it’s not regulated.
Stick with the “swimming with the dolphins” day trip: more controlled conditions. Still risky, but rather safer than snorkeling in the open ocean against a rip tide.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Canada |
December 2008
We stayed at the Grand Playa Turquesa from Dec 6 - 13, 2008 through Air Canada Vacations.
Overall, it was a nice resort with friendly staff and I would recommend it to get away from the everyday and relax. Facilities are nice. The beach is white sand, blue waters with a swimmable reef for snorkelers. The resort is considered a 4 plus star, however I would compare it to a 3.5 star in the Dominican, primarily for their rooms & food.
Location: About 1 hour drive from Holguin airport, 20 minutes from Guardularvaca, or if you’re looking for an adventure a 12 hour train ride from Havana / Varadero (1 hour by plane). The resort is gated and private (5-7 minute ride to another resort) with a nature park (horseback riding) within 1 km.
Check in: we arrived at 8:30pm & were greeted with a cold drink. Given that 3 buses arrived at once, check in was swift. We were assigned a room (773, which at first felt like a long distance from everything, but once you get your bearings is not) with 2 beds though we had pre-requested a room with a king size bed. Front desk reserved us another room (609) for the following day for the rest of our stay.
Resort: The "Occidental" is the primary resort. There are about 500 rooms in 2 storey buildings. Note: there is a secondary area of the resort (hidden off the entrance), which I heard are somewhat cheaper, with villas for families referred to as the "Allegro” and guests have the same access to all facilities of the “Occidental”. The complex is quite large and built on a hill. This is not a resort for anyone who has mobility issues. While golf carts are available for staff to transport guests who would rather not walk or take the many stairs (there are approx 90 stairs over several intervals to get from the ocean to buffet / main entrance level) everything is within a 5-7 minute walk. The main hubs of the hotel are the lobby piano bar at the entrance and the sports bar (24 hours) off the theatre, where they serve all kinds of drinks including cappuccino and espresso. There is also a swim-up / pool bar, beach bar, disco (after 10pm), salon, massage on the beach, a gift shop and small local vendor’s area (vendors change daily and sell handcraft items & paintings). This is a non-motorized beach and the hotel offers complimentary kayaks, surf boards, paddle boats, guided catamaran rides, and snorkelling gear. There are also complimentary bicycles and tennis, and if desired you can rent a car or moped on site. If you need to stay in touch with “the real world”, there are 2 internet (slow as dialup) computers; you need to buy an access card for at $6 peso for 60 minutes. At the onsite currency exchange, we paid $1.38 to $1.42 Canadian per peso. Hint: if you plan to tip in foreign coins, this has no immediate value to locals. If you are approached to exchange foreign coins for bills, don’t be surprised as they need bills to change it at the bank into spendable pesos.
Guests were a mix of Canadians – most from Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia – and Britain and Germany. Many of the ones we spoke to are repeat guests to this hotel. This is the hotel's pre-peak (they get busy in Jan) and had low occupancy. Weather was unprecedented wet and cooler than usual (22-24 degrees).
Rooms at Occidental: The two we saw were decorated identically with a TV, desk, sitting chair, daybed type sofa, mini-bar (that was not always fully stocked by guest services daily with pop, water or beer expected; we never got beer or had our coffee replenished), and balcony with two hammock chairs. Bathroom is shower only with a toilet & marble vanity. There is a hairdryer with a 115V outlet for razor use only. All other electrical plugs are 220V and require a converter (bring your own). All rooms are self controlled air conditioned; if you like to sleep with your windows open, ask for a second floor room. Each room has a small safety deposit box in the closet (no charge) big enough to hold your wallets, passports other small items (will not fit a laptop); they lock with whatever digital code you enter. We were told the villas have separate sleeping areas for kids.
Room 773 was on the second floor, in need of some minor repairs, and did not always have cold water. It was also on a well travelled golf cart route, so it was quite noisy our first nights as guests were arriving. Seems their biggest turnover day is Saturday/Sunday. Room 609 (a joining room) was situated behind a housekeeping building that buffered golf cart noise, however being on the first floor, we heard the movements of the guests above us (tiled floors). We would have been more comfortable bed wise to stay in 773. We did a lot of tossing since the beds were hard and if you're used to sleeping on a King or are above average in height or weight, their couple beds are just too small. We ended up sleeping separately anyhow - him in the bed and me on the sofa. Bring your own pillow!
To our knowledge, there are only about 8 rooms that are considered beachfront (but don't expect a fantastic beach view). This hotel is built preserving as much of its landscape as possible and is lush with trees and flowering bushes.
Pools & beach: by far the most outstanding part of this hotel is the pools: 5 in all (kid pool at kids club), line the center of the resort with room buildings to the left and right sides. Lifeguards are on site from 9:30am and pool closes at 6pm. One pool was designated adults only and another as athletics (though we did not observe them to have organized aerobics or volleyball). There are plenty of loungers and enough shade. This natural beach is beautiful with white sand and blue waters. It is clean, except for cups that guests are just too lazy to throw out. You can walk quite a distance out before it gets over your head - very little weed or rock. It is private, accessible for midnight strolls but not very long (unfortunately it looks like clean up is still ongoing on the banks of the far sides of the beach as has remnants of seaweed and debris washed in from the ocean). Lifeguards are present. Staff will bring you loungers & remove unused ones quickly so the beach remains uncluttered. Beach towels are provided using the voucher system, which you need to return at the end of your stay or risk a 15CUC charge.
Food & drinks: You won't go hungry, but you probably won't gain weight unless you drink too much beer. Keep in mind, we went pre-peak and just 1 month after Paloma, a few months after their 2 worst ever hurricanes that cleared out their crops & Cuba does not have open trading like Canada does. We spoke to guests who had been to Cuba before as well as guests of other resorts (eg. Pesquero, Costa Verde, Blau etc) and what we experienced seems to be on par for the course. We did not get sick or have the big “D”.
The buffet offers 2-3 serve stations (omelettes for breakfast, pasta and grilled meats for lunch / dinner) and about 6-8 hot self serve dishes (plain rice, black bean rice, potatoes, fries, buttered beans & carrots etc.) a selection of breads, cheeses, pickles / olives and deserts although a limited offer of fresh fruit (pineapple, grapefruit, bananas, oranges and apples) and vegetables (white & purple cabbage, cucumbers and onion though in the middle of the week they brought out tomatoes and leaf lettuce). We were a bit disappointed since we were expecting the usual tropical spread we experienced in other Caribbean vacation spots. Expect a lot of fish, pork and chicken and similar foods to be served daily. Beef is a resource in Cuba and not a main part of their diet – a roast beef was serves once at the buffet. Other vacation spots we’ve been to have been more aware of North American cooking standards than what we observed here, but they are not practicing any that would risk your health. While food is not covered for temperature or bugs (and we did not see any here), hot food was usually hot and cold food cold. Staff did their best to keep buffet stations clean. Cross contamination was usually because guests were using serving spoons in multiple dishes or were messy. Serve stations did not have separate cooking grills for meats, so if you have concerns with your chicken being cooked after fish for the guy in front of you, you should be aware of this. Servers bring you beverages: pop, juices (at breakfast fresh fruit smoothies are made) and / or white/red wine and coffee / tea. Hint: bring your own condiments that you regularly use: PB, ketchup, salad dressings.
There are 5 a la carte restaurants and guests can reserve up to 3 dinners per week at the beginning of their stay (rather than have to line up daily). We ate at the Oriental, Grill and Italian. Cuban and Mediterranean were the other choices. Our favourite was the Oriental, followed by the Grill and Italian. You get a choice of an appetizer, entrée and desert with wine and coffee. Lobster is available (at cost). Our food at Italian was cold. Service at all locations was friendly and prompt. Bartenders and servers were attentive (you must see the pool’s bartender’s show). Snacks (burgers, fries and sandwiches) are available at the Sports bar (24 hours, where they also serve breakfast & lunch and serves as the Grill at dinner) as well as at the pool bar and lobby bar (sandwiches & deserts) at different times of the day. There is a beach food service building where we were told usually served lunch & snacks however was closed while we were there due to low occupancy and hurricane damage that still needed to be repaired. We tipped after our meals at the a-la-carts (5-8 CUC), randomly tipped at the bars & buffet (1-2 CUC), and tipped the chambermaid daily (2 CUC) it did not really make a difference in the service we got.
Entertainment – The resort provides nightly entertainment (a 30-60 minute show beginning at 9:30) in a spacious theatre with a poor sound system. It is mostly dance and music and well done, but they need some more variety. There is a disco on site but was not being used (perhaps just the crowd). Apparently they are still developing this season’s daytime program, so there were few poolside or beach activities beyond what I would consider “March Break” fun.
Kids club – the hotel has fabulous but underused facilities for its kids club with separate rooms for activities, napping and movies and a kids’ pool and sunbathing area. Most families stayed by the main pool or went to the beach.
Excursions: Hint: bring your own toilet paper, hand sanitizer and bottled water to all public outings. We always tipped the tour-guide and at meals.
1) Guardularvaca – for 5CUC return pp (as opposed to 12CUC each way by taxi), you can go to the market & beach by bus (half day). There are about 25 stands that sell local crafts & souvenirs. Honestly, not much more selection than what you have at the hotel, but it gives you a cheap way of seeing the countryside and visiting a new beach. Market vendors were reasonably priced and more willing to bargain.
2) Holguin – for 44 CUC (27 for kids), have a bus ride in the country side to Holguin where you visit the cigar factor for an intimate look on how cigars are made and see Cross Hill. This is followed by 1 hour free time in the downtown core for shopping and exploring before an authentic Cuban lunch (Pork wrapped in Chicken) & entertainment in the hilltop. Our tour guide was excellent, providing us with an interesting rundown of Cuban history.
3) Adventure tour – our favourite of them all. A full day excursion for 70CUC pp (less for kids) that includes a guided tour where you drive your own jeep 4x4 (say you don’t drive standard & they’ll pair you up with another couple or provide you with a driver), sea-doo, and horse back ride (30 min). Tour includes stops for an authentic Cuban lunch (Pork or Chicken) at the bay where Columbus is said to have discovered Cuba as well as the Monument. We also drove through a nearby village and stopped for an intimate look inside one of the home (wow, what a reality check).
After the hurricanes:
There is evidence of 2008 hurricane damage throughout the countryside. It is very sad to see homes without roof tops, trees uprooted, debris that still needs to be cleaned up and roads still under repair. The hotel grounds are not as lush as they were in 2007, however the flowering bushes are beginning to sprout again and trees are re-growing their lost leaves. The “Allegro” part of the hotel is closed. Some repair is still needed on some buildings and their tennis courts (1-3 courts are usable), however be assured your stay will not be negatively impacted. Bugs, called Hey-heys (often being mistaken for sand flees or feared bed bugs) have inhabited many resorts due to the hurricanes and are bothering tourists (they seem to come out at night after dark). Invisible, they bite legs and arms without you feeling it and in a day or so you get itchy bumps similar but smaller than mosquito bites. Bug spray is not deterring these guys; however the itch can be curbed using Claritin or some other allergy meds.
Photos: http://www.tripadvisor.com/members-photos/Red456838
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Chris |
August 2008
My girlfriend and I just returned from this hotel we went from July 26th-Aug 3rd(flight problems)
Flight There - We had a direct flight to Holguin from Montreal, our flight was delayed two hours because of a thunderstorm in Toronto which our plane was coming from. The flight was great and Air Canada took in consideration the delay and gave a complimentary drink.
Room Location - We Stayed in room 715, when we first got there we absolutely hated the location, it was late at night and was muggy and hard to navigate, once you learn the shortcuts its not so bad, our was room was actually right infront of the bath that led you to the breakfast buffet so that was good, at night this path was lit up so easy to navigate.
Room - The room was VERY clean, no bugs anywhere, my only complaint would be that the light switches can become confusing. Our mini fridge was always filled with drinks and our room was always cleaned to the max, we were a little disappointed we didn't get to many towel art but once we asked for it they made them no problem, we left the maids cleaning our rooms little gifts and they seem to appreciate it greatly :).
Lobby - The lobby was beautiful we loved the open look of it, the reception wasn't very helpful but they tried there best to answer any questions we had.
Food - The food was actually very good, we both had no problem finding anything, we read reviews about the food sucking so we stocked up on granola bars before heading but we actually didn't eat any except on the flight. When we first arrived we had the fries at the 24 hour snack bar and they were absolutely amazing, I suggest if you like ketchup bring your own they whole time i was there i wished that I brought a bottle of Heinz ketchup cause the Cuban ketchup isn't very good. I enjoyed the pizza at the snack bar and my girlfriend enjoyed the fried chicken. The buffets for breakfast lunch and supper catered to anyones taste buds, for breakfast the fruits were absolutely amazing, the mango was to die for, and I learned to love papaya and guava, the watermelon at times was not to good but when you got a nice red juicy one it was a amazing, the bananas all tasted fresh. The red sausages although greasy were yummy, I'm not a personal fan of eggs but my girlfriend told me that the omelets were great. For lunch I usually waited until the first batch of fries were taken to get the next fresh batch which were absolutely delicious, the cooked beef, chicken and pork, were delicious, I usually tipped these cooks each time if i had money on me because they never look like they asking for it and they are sweating bullets behind those grills, i found it sad not very many people tipped them. For supper i found the buffet didn't really change. We went to 3 a la cartes the Asian, the Grill and the Italian, our favorite was the Italian, presentation and everything was superb, the only one I was disappointed about was the Grill i ordered the pork ribs and found there was much meat i suggest ordering the steak like my girlfriend i tried some of her steak and it was amazing. We never felt obliged to tip but we mostly did, we found it was easier if we always sat at the same spot and got the same waiter, it helps to become friends with those who serve you as they tend to wait you faster that way.
Drinks - Not being a fan of rum i found it hard to drink alcohol beverages, I tried a few different ones and just couldn't find one that suited me, the red wine was really good, and at the pool bar my favorite drink was the slush with amaretto. We drank the water from the pitchers and had no problems, when in our hotel room we always used the bottled water.
Excursions - We decided not to go on any, but we did go to Guardalavaca, its maybe 30 minutes away from the hotel and it has a nice little flea market where you can get some nice souvenirs, here i where you usually argue the price down.
Guardalavaca Flea Market - If your a couple and looking for souvenirs to remember the trip i suggest going its only 5 CUC each for there and back, if you have little children with you I don't suggest going there as its very hot in the market and I can't see them enjoying themselves to much. We found a lot of cool souvenirs to bring back and very happy with our purchases, one thing that was on our mind the whole time that had us petrified was that we bought painting and we were told you had to get them stamped, we found out after that its only if the painting is a certain size, so don't forget to ask the guy selling it to you.
Pools - The pools were amazing, we often left a shirt our a hat on a chair in the morning before breakfast and just stayed at these chairs all day, the water was warm and absolutely refreshing, the swim up bar was a unique and a fun experience we stayed in this pool for a bit but we loved the pool with the bridge for if we felt we were getting to much sun we would just sit in the shade on the bridge, you could often find little baby lizards in on the side which were fun to watch, only thing i didn't understand about the pools is why they would write that they close at 6, I often found myself wanting to go swimming passed 6 and wasn't sure if I'd get in trouble or not so i just didn't. The towels were included and never had a problem with them, the guy dealing with the towels was very nice and friendly as well.
Beach - The beach was very nice but we didn't find ourselves there very often we went on 2 catamaran rides with Elly, who i must say is a little crazy first ride was very calm but the second one oh my god we were going fast and one side was flying the in air it was insane. The beach ice cream was to die for was so good :).
Check Out - Was very fast and no problems, we were even able to keep our room til 3 no extra charge
Flight Back - Was an absolute nightmare, anyone who was there on August 2nd for the 7:15 flight back to Montreal will understand this nightmare. We left the hotel around 4pm for the holguin airport we got through customs and everything by about 6, they finally tell us to board the plane at around 6:45 when were walking towards the plane they tell us to turn around, we then see the captain inspecting the landing gear, and thats when the rumors started, the Cubans had no idea what they were talking about there was just mass confusion and no one had the slightest idea what was happening, finally they post that our flight is canceled on 9:06 pm without the slightest explanation, finally they tell us were going to be relocated at Playa Pesquero and take a flight out tomorrow, but no talk as to when we will be relocated, everything was done half ass and backwards, we ended up having to refill out visas. We ended up waiting until 11ish pm before anything was really done with us, they let all kids out first which was absolutely retarded seeing as there was a family of 8 adults 2 kids... We finally see our Air Canada Vacations representative and he tells us that theres 2 buses for just Air Canada Vacations and in "about an hour" the TMR bus will come this was at about 11:30pm they told us the TMR bus will be coming, since the Air Canada Representative didn't care to ask the people going on the buses in the first place, ended up being adults with kids that were with TMR got on the bus and a bunch of people who booked with Air Canada including our selves got absolutely screwed. We finally got to Playa Pesquero around 2am and found out our bus to go back and go through customs and such all over again was leaving at 9am.
Review of Playa Pesquero - In the short few hours I was at Playa Pesquero i disliked it a lot, the lobby to the eye looks absolutely beautiful but the water smells unclean, when we got to our room I don't know if when you book with them you get your roomed A/Cd before you get there but all the rooms are on energy saving so i opened the door expecting a nice feel of ac instead I got a heat draft and a smell of piss, it smelt like someone pissed all over our pillows when we finally figured out you need to put the key card in the little thing next to the first flight switch to turn the electricity on in the room it took forever to get cold, it must of been 40 Celsius in the there when we walked in, the dial on the wall was confusing, i really don't understand how this hotel got 5 stars its absolutely disgusting. The breakfast buffet was all scattered and the people serving you were useless, I would never stay in this hotel it was absolutely disgusting bugs were crawling everywhere, we open the shower and it was infested with gigantic ants.
All in all was an amazing vacation except coming home.
Hope this review useful if you have any questions i have no problem answering just email me at chris.mansell88@gmail.com
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Monique & Serge ~ Gatineau, Quebec, Canada |
August 2008
We stayed at the Occidental Grand Playa Turquesa – Holguin, Cuba, July 19-26, 2008
We’re a couple in our early 50’s. Have been to Cuba before, Varadero and Havana, Dominican Republic many times, the Mayan Riviera in Mexico and Jamaica.
Flew with Air Tansat from Montreal. Left on time and arrived on time – going and coming back. Service was good and plenty of leg room in economy class – Airbus 310.
Bus ride from Holguin airport to resort was about 50 minutes. Went by fast, as Orlando our TMR representative gave the hotel briefing in the bus, which we appreciated. Greeted at the hotel with refreshing cold drinks.
Room
We were in section 1, room 123, 2nd floor. No complaints. The room was big, beautiful and VERY clean with big closets – no odors of any kind. The location of our room was on top of the mountain, very quiet and great for sleeping. We were lucky; we had quiet neighbors and everything worked in our room, except, no hot water for the week. We took daily showers at room temperature water – it was not cold, just room temperature. It was not that bad, actually refreshing and we did not complain about it. The AC functioned at all time, was very quiet and very clean. Even thought we had a balcony, we did not use it because of the many, many trees being so close to the balcony. We could not see anything but the leaves which blocked off any fresh air that we could have enjoyed.
Beach
Beautiful but small in a secluded area – almost private. Nice white powder sandy beach with turquoise water. Even though there are algae’s in the water, there’s still plenty of beautiful areas for soaking and swimming. Lot’s of trees for shade along the beach. Water was warm and very clear. The beach was cleaned everyday. One perk that we actually enjoyed on the beach was the service for the beach chairs. There was always someone to bring your beach chairs were you wanted and with a smile. And no sooner then when you left the beach, the chairs would be picked up and brought back to the stack of chairs. No littering the beach with chairs.
Pools
WOW! Lot’s of pools. The water was warm and the pools appeared to be very clean. No complaints! We preferred the infinity pool way at the top of the mountain with the view. The one beside the 24/7 bar and snack bar. On our way to and from lunch we would always take a dip in the infinity pool. And our preferred time of the day was at the end of the afternoon, around 5:00 PM. We would sometimes stay in the infinity pool until 6:30-7:00 PM as the sun would set. It was great! Now that I’m back home, the one thing that I’m missing is our late afternoon dips in the infinity pool.
Food & Drinks
Just like any other resorts, the food at the buffet was OK. Not bad, but not great. Some nights were better than others. However, plenty of selections for every taste and lots of deserts. I’m not complaining. Our motto is if you want a great meal – stay home and cook it yourself. On the beach for lunch, they make pizza, hamburgers and hot dogs. Oh yes, the ice cream. They actually have really good ice cream – on the beach.
The A la carte restaurants. We did not do any. While on vacation, we do not want to be bothered by the time. We want to eat when we want to eat and not have to rush because of a reservation. That’s us! We were quite satisfied with the buffet. Would like to mention, there was bacon every morning for breakfast.
The drinks were fabulous at the 24/7 bar. Anything you wanted they would make and with a smile. Always the smile! Great Margarita’s! Great Pina Colada’s! Fantastic Mohito’s! Oh yes, about the wine. I drink red wine and it was very good. Spanish wine served from a bottle. They also served Champagne in the dining room.
Excursions/Tours
Plenty to choose from. We took the Santiago de Cuba overnight excursion. We were gone for two days. We were a party of seven people plus the guide, Ernesto and the bus driver, Daniel. It was great and worth it! Including the stops along the way, it took about three hours to reach the city of Santiago de Cuba. We also stopped in the small city of El Cobre which is worth seeing. The drive itself was fantastic as the closer you get to Santiago the Cuba the bigger the mountains. You drive thru and around the Sierra Maestra Mountains. WOW! Unbelievable scenery! Santiago the Cuba; what a city! Lot’s to do. Lot’s to see. We went to the Casa de la Trova nightclub to enjoy a true evening of live Cuban music. It was great! Would definitely do this one again. Our guide spoke five languages fluently. In our party of seven people, three were from East Germany, two from British Columbia and my husband and I from Quebec.
This excursion included meals and hotel accommodation and entry fees to all sites we visited in Santiago de Cuba. One very important point concerning hotel accommodation for this excursion, do try to stay at the Melia Santiago or an equivalent establishment and make sure you have confirmation before you leave. If not, you will have to stay in a much lesser quality hotel which may not be up to your standards which happened to us.
We stayed in a roadside two level floor hotel which appeared to cater to truckers. I do not have the name of this hotel, however, it is situated within walking distance to the Castillo el Morro and the back of the hotel faces the Caribbean Sea. Our bathroom had no toilet seat but we were blessed with the privilege of getting half a roll of toilet paper. We were supplied with two hand towels and two tiny bars of soap. Of course, no hot water in the shower and the shower telephone handle support was broken and crusty with rust, probably caused by the hard water. The room came furnished with a refrigerator which looked brand new; it did not work because there was no electrical outlet to plug it in. The room was poorly furnished and poorly lit and had very dirty flexi glass windows. The room had a light bulb with no shade on it with two spiders hanging from the socket. It also came with a noisy AC unit which we had to use throughout the night because the temperature during the day had peeked at 38 degrees Celsius. We were blessed! I’d like to mention that the bed sheets were clean and crispy white and overall the bathroom sink and toilet were very clean. Also there were no bugs or insects found in the room.
This hotel had a swimming pool in the back which the manager of the establishment invited us to use. So we all get into our swimsuits and head out back to the pool. It’s an old cement pool which may have been built in the 50’s. The pool was dirty and the water was greenish. When we returned back to the lobby to head back to our rooms, the manager asked if we enjoyed the pool. We told him we did not use it because it was dirty. He looked kind of surprised.
Supper and breakfast were included with our stay. One lady in our party opened the cover of the soup container and found a dead fly floating in the soup – for real.
Oh yes, after leaving the dining room area after breakfast, right there in the middle of the floor there was a huge tarantula - wearing a black fur coat. It was heading for the corner of the bottom stair to catch a live crab that was hiding. The locals staying at this hotel simply walked by as if this were nothing. One Cuban trucker saw the expression on my face and laughed. Told me it was only a big spider. Then with the top of his boot he pushed the tarantula further away. Still laughing, he said to me, “you only see on Discover channel?”
Of course, the main hotel lobby bathroom had no toilet paper.
Overall, we had a great time during our excursion and now, today, we can laugh about our roadside hotel adventure in Santiago de Cuba.
The staff
Everybody and I mean everybody was polite, helpful and professional. The bartenders, the staff in the dining room, for breakfast and supper, even the security guards on the grounds, including the staff on the beach. Every morning and every evening in the dining room we were always greeted with beautiful welcoming smiles. On our last day, those who took care of us in the dining room gave us hugs and kisses before we left. Most of the staff we came into contact with spoke several languages, some French, some English, some German and of course Spanish. Once they got to know you, they always did their best to greet you in your language. However, we made a conscious effort to speak Spanish (limited) and they were more than pleased to help you with pronunciations and new words. That’s how we learn.
The grounds
This resort is big and spread out. Lot’s of different trees, bushes, shrubs, flower and walkways. I have to admit on our first day I was taken aback from the dryness of the soil. Where there should be grass, it actually looks like dry hay. The grounds are really dry and at first looked unkempt. Not much rain – which is good up to a certain point. However, this area of Holguin could certainly use some really good rainfalls. As the days progressed, I no longer noticed the dry grounds and grass, I started to notice the beauty of the different shrubs and flowers that grow and flourish in that kind of climate and started to enjoy the surrounded areas. Actually, it’s quite beautiful.
Bothersome things
· On some days, not having toilet paper in the dining room bathrooms at supper time.
· On some days, not having toilet paper in the beach bathrooms, early in the morning.
· Some debris on the grounds and pool areas not picked up on a regular basis. My husband and I including other guests would voluntarily pick up debris on the grounds on our way from one place to another. Too bad that other guests don’t pick up after themselves when leaving an area.
· If you had supper at a later time in the dining room, it would not be unusual to find bits and pieces of paper and napkins left on the floor.
· During the day, the floor of the main pool bar (not the 24/7) was dirty. There appeared to be no cleaning done during the day in this particular busy area.
· The bathrooms of the main lobby should be verified and cleaned more often. And once again, also making sure there is toilet paper.
· The 24/7 bar and snack bar area could certainly use some ceiling fans. It gets very hot during the day and stuffy in the evenings in this bar. Same thing applies to the bar area in the main lobby. A few ceiling fans would definitely make a big difference.
· The glass covered tables in the bar area of the main lobby including the 24/7 bar & snack bar area could use a good washing. Some hot water with vinegar would do the job.
Quiet time
This is a family resort. Families with lot’s of kids. If you are traveling as a couple and are looking for some quiet time, you are going to have problems finding a quite place on this resort. Of all the pools available on this resort, the adult only pool sometime had screaming unsupervised kids in it which appeared to be tolerated from the Hotel – where were the parents?
On the beach, if you are looking for a quiet place, you will have to go near the end of the tree line. You will not hear the loud music or the animation team speaking loudly from the speakers. Bear in mind, this is a family resort. The week we were there, couples without young children were a minority.
Even though we thoroughly enjoyed our week had a great time and met some really nice people and the weather was great, remember – no rain, my husband and I would not have spent another week at this resort. Why, because there is not much place that a couple traveling without kids can find some quiet places. However, if you are traveling with young kids, then this is the place and you will have a great vacation as a family.
However, we are missing our late afternoon dips in the infinity pool at the top of the mountain. As for Cuba and its people; we love it and we love them. We will be going back to Cuba, for sure.
Tip
Wherever you go outside the resort, make sure you bring toilet paper. I’m not kidding!
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Kim ~ Paris, Ontario |
May 2008
We just returned from Grand Playa Turquesa in Holguin (May 4-11) and had an amazing time. This was our 3rd trip to Cuba and this was by far the best resort we have stayed at in Cuba. The Allegro side was closed while we were there so we didn’t even see it.
We always hear people complain about the food in Cuba but we don’t think people give it a fair chance and don’t realize that they are NOT going to get Canadian or American type foods there. We thought the food was really good, there was always something we liked, even our picky 12 yr old daughter found lots she liked. The drinks were great and the bartenders knew how to look after you. There was a lot of variety in the drinks and food too. The resort is beautiful and very well kept. There are a lot of cement stairs and a lot of walking so it wouldn’t be good for the elderly or disabled, but we really enjoyed all the walking. We had read that the walkways and stairs were not in good condition, but we didn’t find that at all. There are men in golf carts that will drive you around if you need it. The beach was amazing. Very clear warm shallow water and the sand was clean white and soft. There was a bar and grill right on the beach. There were clean working washrooms right off the beach at each end. The pools were great and there was always a party in the afternoons at the swim up bar. The staff was all friendly and helpful. The room was large, clean and comfortable. We had lots of English TV channels. We had a little fridge with pop and water. The air conditioning in the room worked great and was controlled digitally and was nice and quiet too. We did the catamaran, snorkeling and dolphin swim trip which was amazing and well worth the money. We had beautiful weather and had rain one night. We did get a few mosquito bites in the evenings, usually around supper time, but once we put on bug spray we didn’t get bit anymore. Absolutely no complaints and we would go back to this resort again without a doubt. Our motto is ‘a bad day on vacation beats a good day at work anytime!’ Mind you, ALL 7 days of this vacation were GREAT!
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Jack & Wendy ~ Nova Scotia |
April 2008
Hola, I wanted to provide my comments on our first experience to Occidental Grand Playa Turquesa. We arrived April 4th at 10:30am and an hour later we were at the resort. We did have to wait in line for ½ hour to get checked in, however considering we just began our vacation, ½ hour was no time at all. Our room was not ready, again to us it was no big deal, we put our luggage in the closet as directed by the staff, we got our shorts and tank tops out of our luggage donned them and off we were to look around.
Our room was great. Air conditioner was very quiet. The room was very clean and no musty smell. Two chairs on the balcony, and a wonderful view of the ocean. Water, pop and beer in the fridge.
It took us approx 5 minutes to get to the beach. We always managed to get loungers, and the beach guy was always there to carry them for us. Activities were always planned, and organized by the resort. The staff members were fun and very energetic. The evening shows we did not enjoy. They always seemed to be the same, i.e. lip syncing, same dance steps, the performers were always the same and not much change from night to night.
We did enjoy the food, sometimes it was bland, but overall always a variety of choices, nothing was ever empty. There was a bit of a line up at the grill, but never more than 6 or so at any time. The cooks very personable and pleasant.
Someone with us had brought the flu with them and with 22 in our party it went from one person to the next and so on. So I am sure if someone who went down in April of 2008 they actually got the flu and not food poisoning.
We did a couple of excursions, and enjoyed both of them. The Cat was amazing, we stopped at two coral reefs and snorkeled. We also snorkeled at the resort on the beach and that was a wonderful experience.
There were seven pools and one which was adults only that was very nice. Three bars open during the day, one open 24 hours and a forth open at noon until about 5ish between the swim up bar and the family pool. The bartenders were wonderful, always served you what you wanted and offered up suggestions for some specialty drinks.
We brought down some items to give away. We gave some away to workers on the resort, however the majority was for outsiders. Where we stayed was quite remote, so we made arrangements with the wedding coordinator to get the tote bag to Pastor Eddy and he would ensure distribution to the needy. The general manager of the resort will also see that Pastor Eddy gets items. They make two trips a week to drop off items to him for the community he serves. Pastor Eddy is located about ½ hour from the resort by vehicle. I also made arrangements with Skyservice to take this additional bag at no charge on the airplane with me, as they classified it as humanitarian. We brought: sneakers, sandals, clothes, children toys, dolls, plus tooth paste, brushes, band aids, polysporin, crayons, markers, candies, face clothes, pencils, hats, fishing supplies etc. Jack gave one of the outside works some fishing gear, and I can honestly say I have never seen a smile so big than what this man gave us. He spoke no English, but really none was necessary.
I cannot say anything negative about our experience. We enjoyed it immensely and will be returning next year to get married on the beach at sunset.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Odette & Les ~ Nova Scotia |
April 2008
The previous reviews cover the details very well so I will write about our experience. I traveled with my husband and another couple to Grand Playa Turquesa. We have traveled to Cuba many times and been to quite a few different resorts so feel that my review of our recent trip to Playa Turquesa is fairly objective.
We booked our vacation online through canadiantravel.com and flew on Westjet. There were no complications with the booking. In the past we used selloffvacations.com with equally good results.
The overall resort is beautiful. Built up the side of a hill, it is without a doubt one of the prettiest we have ever been to. The buildings are nestled among trees and each balcony is very private. The footprint of the resort is very big and as has been mentioned in other reviews this is not a good place for anyone with mobility problems. There is a set of stairs from the top of the resort to the beach along the sides of the pools. These are very pretty with bowers of flowers covering the walkways but anyone with problems with stairs would be wise to avoid them. I agree with the other reviews with regard to the rooms, grounds and beach. No problems with the overall resort. The air conditioning worked very well and we did not have any musty smell in the room as we often do at other resorts.
There were problems which taken by themselves didn't seem too problematic but by the end of the week they added up to enough annoyances that I felt it was important to mention them. Since there were almost 2 full buses from our plane going to this resort we were a little dismayed to learn upon our arrival that they were not prepared for the high volume. We had to wait over 30 minutes in line to check-in and then learned our rooms were not ready. The 3 staff members had 1 sheet of paper with the guests names on it that they passed back and forth among themselves all the while answering the telephone or talking to other staff. This could have been easily solved if our room cards were in envelopes with our name & rooms numbers written on the outside along with a map of the resort as we have encountered at most other resorts. We were sent off to the buffet to eat while we waited. I had sent an e-mail ahead requesting a ground floor (my husband has a few mobility problems) and a room near our friends. They said they had received the request and given us the ground floor room as requested but had allotted the rooms before they saw our request so couldn't put us near our friends. The response didn't make much sense but we left it that way. No one's rooms were ready. We finally reached our rooms around 3PM. This means we had been up and traveling since 3AM. Some people were stilling waiting for their rooms when we got ours.
Shade was never a problem because of the trees on the beach. We did run into a problem with lounge chairs at the beach one day. The beach boy told us the resort was full (1200 guests) and he didn't have enough chairs for everyone. This was the first sunny day after 1 & 1/2 rainy days so maybe everyone was hitting the beach at same time. It was the only time we ran into this problem all week,
There were very few mosquitoes and the fogging machine went around in the late afternoon twice while we were there. It would be nice to see a notice posted telling us when they are going to do this so you can avoid being outdoors at that time. The smell from the fumes was very strong nor do you know exactly what they are spraying .
We had no hot water in our room for 3 days and it took the efforts of Roger, our Transat Rep to finally get us hot water. We seemed to be the only ones without hot water. The food was also bit of a problem. We are used to resort buffets so were not expecting anything special but the buffet selection was very limited and there were long lineups for all the grills. There seemed to be a lack of kitchen help and they didn't appear to be prepared for the large number of guests. They were always running out of something at the buffet. We also tried the other restaurants on the premises and found them all to be lacking in some form or other. I, unfortunately got food poisoning mid-week and was very sick. The other couple with us also had some digestive problems. As we spoke to other people we found that many people had digestive issues with the food. It was the first time at a 4 star resort where we had difficulty finding something to eat that appealed to us. We also tried some of the a la cartes. Again we ran into problems. Our booking for the Mediterraneo was canceled because of the rain so cannot comment on it. We did eat at the Italian and it was not good. The food was not fresh and the pasta was like glue. We canceled our reservations at the Grill because of my food poisoning but heard from several people that they did not like it.
Several other problems caused us some annoyances. There were no slings on our balcony chairs when we arrived. They did send someone with some when we reported it. There was no iron in the room but the maid brought one when we asked. The staff were friendly and we did leave gifts for the maids in the room and also were told the staff share tips but are allowed to keep gifts for themselves so we gave gifts to the ones who went out of their way to make our stay pleasant. As we don't drink soft drinks we gave the ones from our fridge to the security staff who stood for long hours in the heat and they were very happy to receive them. We also had small gifts for the gardeners and staff that don't often receive anything.
In conclusion, while this is a beautiful resort we would not return because of the number of problems that cropped up all week. We would return to Playa Costa Verde, in Holguin where we stayed 2 other times. As with all trips to Cuba there are always some small quirks or problems that surface but we accept that as part of the trip. We have also been to the DR and found the same types of problems crop up. This is usually not enough to deter us from having a good time or returning each year but this time there were too many problems to be ignored so for this reason we will not return to Playa Turquesa.
If any one would like further information I would be happy to reply.
old@ns.sympatico.ca
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March 2008
We went to the Occidental Grand Playa Turquesa during the Ontario March Break (March 8 – 15) 2008. We were two adults and two 13 year old boys. We requested and they gave us adjoining rooms with a door in between.
Arrival
We arrived at the resort close to midnight. There were two receptionists there and it took a long time to get us all processed. It probably took over an hour to get the whole group through and to their rooms but the receptionists were very polite and friendly. That might have contributed to the speed (or lack thereof) at which everyone was processed.
The Resort
The resort is fairly expansive and built on a long slope down to the ocean. The main entrance is at the top of the hill along with most of the restaurants. There is a line of seven pools running down the slope toward the ocean with waterfalls between them. It’s quite beautiful. Consequently, there are a lot of steps going up and down. I wouldn’t recommend this resort for those with ambulatory difficulties.
There were a few mosquitoes at dusk. They sprayed this substance from the back of a vehicle at dusk to get rid of them. It smelled pretty nasty but it dissipated fairly quickly.
The Beach
The beach is pretty wide with white sand. The sand is not very deep and there is hard pack underneath. This makes walking in it easier but it is also possible to scrape your feet if you’re playing volleyball or soccer. The water gets deep slowly and there is a reef a ways off shore which makes for a fairly calm swimming area. There are patches of vegetation here and there in the water but enough sandy bottom for you to wander around. There are a few fish to see when snorkeling, but not too much close to shore. The best things about the beach are; 1. There is a band of trees about 20 to 30 metres from shore so you can always get shade if you want it. 2. There are enough lounge chairs for everyone!!! This combination is a rarity among resorts.
You can reserve Hobie cats, wind surfers, paddle boats, and kayaks. If you want a Hobie cat, you have to reserve it fairly early in the morning. The reservations open at 9:30 but you should get there between 9:00 and 9:15 if you want a Hobie cat or else you may not get one. There are burgers, hot dogs, and pizza available for lunch. You can also get a half hour massage for 10 pesos (about $11.00). The Italian restaurant is close to the beach and has a nice lunch buffet. Right behind the restaurant is a three story tower which is a great place to watch the sunset.
For Runners
There is a lockstone walkway around the whole resort but it is not very good for running because it is uneven lockstone and because you are almost always running up or down hill (remember, the resort is built on a slope). The best run is outside the resort. The road coming from the highway is three km long and has few houses. There is a bit of traffic in the early morning when busses bring the workers in and late afternoon when many workers are leaving. About 100 metres out of the resort is a dirt road leading off to the left. It has some branch roads that lead to some farms but if you take always take the left fork, it will bring you in an arc back to the resort beach (1-2 km). It’s a bit rough in places but it’s shady. If you need a longer run, you can go out to the highway and turn either left or right. There is a dirt shoulder but there is quite a bit of traffic and it moves quite quickly so it is not for the faint of heart.
The People
I loved the Cuban people. There are very friendly, especially if you try to speak Spanish to them. They are thankful for tips but do not give the impression that they expect them. I stopped in at a hut on one of my runs and was enthusiastically invited inside for some coffee and given a tour of their land.
The people at the resort were a mix of about 55 % English Canadians, 35 % French Canadians, 8 % British, and 2 % Germans. We found it a very pleasant, mostly family atmosphere. There were very few wild party types. It may have been because it was the March Break in Ontario and so mostly families were traveling. There were a couple of wedding parties also.
Entertainment
There were dance lessons, Spanish lessons, volleyball games, and other activities. In the evening there were shows. Most shows were centered on music and dance. They were very talented performers but after a few nights, I was looking for something different.
Bars and Restaurants
The food was hit and miss. Some of the foods I really loved and some I left on the plate. At the buffets, I could always find something that appealed to me. The soups were great. We usually had good luck with the pork and chicken dishes, cheeses and breads. One of the restaurants is open 24 hours and so you can always get something to eat. I am not much into alcohol so I’m probably not a very good judge of the quality of the drinks but I thought there were quite good. Many of them seemed to include rum. A couple that we thought were nice were “sex on the beach” (at the pool bar it’s called “sex at the pool”) and “The Crazy Canadian”. The latter is pretty sweet and only available at bars that have a slushy machine.
Overall
We had a wonderful time. It was reasonably efficient, friendly, and had good service. You could adjust to your comfort temperature by moving between the pool, the beach, and the shade at the beach. There were a few minor inconveniences but we expect that in a developing country. I’d go again in the blink of an eye.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
John & Sheron ~ Blyth, Ont . Canada |
January 2008
Arrival
When we arrived there was a seperate check-in for Air Transat customers. "EXCELLENT"
Rooms
The room was clean,large with high ceilings very compfortable. The air conditioner worked well
(no ceiling fan.)
Restaurant
Only tried the "La Hacienda" and the "Bucanero" buffet restaurants.Both were typical Cuban fare.
I personally, perfer eating at A la Carte restaurants at home. The burgers on the beach were O.K.
Their french fries were excellent.
Bars
The lobby bar was the best because of Oscar the bartender. OH MY the pina coladas were awesome.
All bars were good with quick and friendly service.
Beach and Pools
The beach was beautiful with lots of loungers and shade trees. The water was always warm but the clarity would change daily if not hourly depending on the wind. The pools were clean and well maintained. There was very little shade around the pools.
The grounds were lush with lots of trees and flowers. The DEFOGGING for mosquitoes every day between 5:45p.m. to 6:00p.m. was toxic. The tree frogs ,toads and birds was wonderful.
Activities
The animation team was organized and fun. We played bocce and darts on the beach. The enterainment at the theater was very good except the accoustics was HORRIBLE and the music was too loud.
Tours
Did not do any
Conclusion
This is our 8th trip to Cuba and we enjoyed this resort as well as the others we stayed at. It is not our favorite but at $1057.00 taxes included we feel we got our value for our money.This is not a good resort for handicapped people,wheel -chairs and tots in strollers, as there is a lot of steps to climb.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Catherine et Hugues ~ Québec |
November 2007
We were at Occidental Gran Playa Turquesa – Allegro section - from December 31 to January 14 2007. There was 6 of us (3 kids 4.5, 6 and 7 yrs old and 3 adults). The Allegro section if sold by Caribesol / Holasun as a 3.5 stars of 31 rooms… but it really is a section of the Occidental Gran Playa Turquesa which is a 4.5 stars with 520 rooms. The Allegro is at the left end side of the resort but not any further than the rooms at the right end side from anything. When looking at the map it feels like you have to go trough the lobby to go anywhere but in fact, if you go by the tennis court you get to the buffet in about 5 minutes and if you take the trail, you’ll be on the beach in no more than 8 minutes… we did it with the kids! The Allegro is a bit cheaper as it sells for quad occupancy (we paid 1500$ can. for our 2 weeks stay per adult)… it is indeed set up for families as the rooms communicated trough the bathroom… which has no doors! Don’t worry… there is a toilet stall and another one for the shower! These form a hallway with the sinks in front of them. You might want to bring a cheap shower curtain with duck tape if you want to insure some privacy. There is also no lights in the toilet stall… let just say that our scuba diving flash light turned out to be very helpful. That being said… There is nothing else that differentiates the Allegro from the rest of the resort.
We flew in with Cubana… having flown with Sunwing just a few weeks earlier, we realised that the service this time around was minimal. They came by with the bar service before lunch and we realised after having being served that we had to pay! The food offered was decent but nothing special. We were provided with headsets on the way down but not on the way back + the soundtracks were English or Spanish going in but English only coming back… not much to keep the attention of the French speaking kids! It did not compare at all with Sunwing where the staff was very present and pleasant! But we got there in one piece and on time, so we could not really complaint. Going trough the Holguin airport went really well. It is being renovated so things might improved… but we did not feel like it was a nightmare… just the normal hassle of coming in after getting up at 3 in the morning and flying for 4 hours! The bus ride to the hotel took about an hour which was a great down time for the kids to rest before arriving.
Check in was quick and efficient. Our room was not ready but having strip down to shorts already, we were OK to go have lunch to the buffet. By the time we got back our room was ready and we went by to put on our swim suit and had time to go by the beach a couple hours before we went for dinner.Being there on December 31 meant VERY high occupancy… going on the beach at the end of the morning there would be no more chairs available (one morning someone even decided to take one of ours… because the sandals were next to it, not on it!), going for dinner at seven meant having trouble finding a table for the six of us and all the catamaran’s rides were booked by 9h30. On the positive side, there was a special banquet for New Year’s eve and they were handing out bags full of goodies that the kids really enjoyed.
The lay out of the resort is absolutely stunning. The seven pools (6 cascading including an infinity one + one at the kid’s club) are amazing. There are a lot of trees and birds so the surroundings are very pleasant… for us and the mosquitoes. There are at least 2 or 3 different types as I had at least 3 very distinctive types of bites! Deet (Watkins cream) did not work very well but I guess it would have been worse without! Now, I think things might have been particularly bad due to the rain… I mean that must have been paradise for the mosquitoes with all that humidity and warmth! This was supposed to be the beginning of the dry season but we had never seen so much rain… at the beginning of our stay it was just sporadic showers with quit a bit of sun in between but at the end we had 3 days of overcast and showers all day… not continuous rain but those were not sunny days. I must say that we still enjoyed ourselves because the raining was so spectacular… very intense for a few minutes, some drizzle, then nothing! At times, we would keep on swimming under the rain because it was so warm! On the down side it made for all the venues to be very slippery, the Cuban à la carte could not be used (it’s open air) and it totally ruined the new year’s banquet that had been set up as a special treat in the main open air courtyard.
Eating : Not a problem! Variety and quality were there. My husband even saw someone controlling the temperature, so there was quality control. It is a buffet, so food is not as warm as if you help yourself straight from the stove at home… but it is was warm enough. There was always chicken, beef, pork, one or two kind of fish, plenty of fruits and veggies… pasta the first week, none to be seen the second. To the kids delight, French fries were available at each and every meal!! So were fresh cucumbers! The milk is treated by a special process and doesn’t taste the same as at home so it was hit and missed. Deserts were very abundant and fresh ice cream always easy to find in at least 3 flavors. We went to the Italian, Mediterranean, Chinese and Cuban. All very good and a nice change from the buffet. Not the same as the buffet at all. We were really appreciative that they would let the kids experience the à la carte… some resorts don’t. Service was not as good as the food however… sometimes it felt as if the waiters were trained to look everywhere while avoiding to make eye contact! It was difficult to get our drinks and one time, my husband was even told to ask another person… as we were not in the section that specific waitress was working! We never had the chance to drink a mojito… no mint available!
Kid’s facilities: The kids club is amazing, very attractive to the kids and well organised during the day. The mini-disco at night was not always a success depending one the creativity of the animator but still a high light for the girls. Perfect for our age range… don’t know how it would have been for younger or older kids. They also loved the carito rides around the resort (golf carts that are used as shuttles). Came in handy for everyone at the end of the day.
The beach is very safe as the water is barely knee high for over 500 meters… so not good for swimming or snorkelling. There was also quite a bit of seaweed which grossed out the kids… and us as well quite frankly. But they were attempts to keep some areas grass free… but hey, this is the ocean not a swimming poll so I doubt they will be winning that battle. We did manage to see some fish to show the kids but that was almost luck of the draw and not enough to be considered like a snorkelling experience. The beach is in itself amazing, very secluded and not that many Cubans could be encountered. If you walk to the left hand side (while facing the ocean) you will end up by an abandonned fishing boat… that made for a great excursion.
Outings : we tried to make our way to Mellilla on the Sunday… asked a taxi driver with a van if he could pick us up 90 minutes later… but he never showed up. Apparently, guest services should have confirmed the reservation, did not do it, so the driver had to go on another call… we finally made it on Monday and that gave the kids the opportunity to meet with father Eddy to whom we handed donation for redistribution. We had book the cab to take us to Guardalavaca afterwards and that was very fun for everyone. There is a great grill right between the market and the beach which came in very handy at lunch time. Great chicken and fries. We went back to Guardalavaca at the end of our stay, this time using the shuttle bus… much cheaper, just as convenient and way more fun… since there are no glass in the windows, ladies make sure your hair is well tied up… I ended up looking like Cousin It!! The market at Guardalavaca is plentiful of typical Cuban souvenirs (woods carvings, crochet clothings, jewellery, t-shirts…) that are slightly cheaper than what was offered at the hotel by the travelling artisans (due to the competitions I supposed). We also did the Catamaran / dolphins… that was a bit disappointing since we were there before the Turquesa and Playa Pesquero opened. At the time, the catamaran would fit less than 20 persons, the guide had jumped in the water with us for the snokeling, showing us amazing stuff and the dolphins had plenty of time with everyone… this time around, there were about 75 of us on board, the snorkelling reef looked “tired” (there were two other catamarans there at the same time) no one came to “show us around” and the dolphins were to tired to do the tricks that made the first visit so special… it still was good for the first timers but if you did it elsewhere, beware not to be disappointed. There is a Zoo just up the hill to the Gran Playa Turquesa, you go by it every time you venture out of the resort… but it is not advertised at the hotel. We never made the time to pay it a visit but I bet it’s probably better value for the money than the Catamaran / dolphin tour.
Scuba diving: a nightmare! There are two diving centers fairly close by. One on the Pesquero beach and the other on the Guardalavacca beach. But no one was able to make arrangements for us with either. We were told to call them ourselves and make all the arrangements to get there on our own… until we finally met one rep (for the life of me I cannot remember is name or the company he represented unfortunately) who did make all the arrangements and even made a follow up we he saw us still sitting in the lobby way past our departure time (a diver from another hotel had not bother to call to cancel and delayed everyone). So if your goal is to snorkel or scuba dive, go to an hotel right on the Pesquero beach (Playa Pesquero, Gaviota Costa Verde or Blau Costa Verde : great snorkelling right from the beach) or the Guardalavaca beach (we found the DM more receptive and service oriented there). The dives themselves were good with a wide variety of fishes and corals.
We would probably not return to that hotel because scuba diving / snorkelling is a must for us. We would recommend this hotel for families with younger kids who don’t mind walking as the beach and pools are great.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Leanne |
November 2007
We travelled to Holguin October 2007 staying at the Occidental Grand Playa Turquesa. This is our 3rd time to this area, on the previous 2 visits we had stayed at Playa Pesquero (have also stayed once at Breezes Jibacoa - Varadero/Havana). It was very hard not to try and
compare the 2 resorts, (PP and GPT)but in the end, although the Grand
Playa Turquesa is a lovely resort, there is no comparison between the
2. I will try not to comment too much on the differences, after all this is a review of the Grand Playa Turquesa, not Playa Pesquero!!!
FLIGHT: Flew Air Transat out of Toronto, no complaints on the flight,
with the exception of the food!!! Transat used us as guinea pigs to try out a "new" Chinese Food option ...they really should stick with what they had, it could not have been any worse!!! Arrived at Frank Pais airport in Holguin at approx. 2:00pm, everything was quick through there as usual...once finished, we dashed off to the bus that would transport us to the resort...but not without an ice cold Cristal or 2 or 3!!! Travel time to the resort was approx. 1 hour - travelling during the day was new for us, in previous years we have arrived in the evening, so you do not get to see much scenery.
CHECK-IN: Quick and easy. There were 10 of us all together, and I had
e-mailed the resort in advance to see if we could be placed in the same general area, there were able to oblige, 3 groups were in the 400's and 1 on the 300's - great location to all amenities we found!!!
STAFF: We found the staff at Playa Turquesa to be absolutely outstanding, we cannot say enough about each and every one of them. They were an extreme pleasure to interact with and they all made a point of paying special attention to the kids. As well, we found this was NOT a resort in which you needed to tip in order to receive decent service - tips were greatly appreciated, but they had no bearing on any sort of service, unlike our experience at Breezes Jibacoa last fall - which was completely opposite.
ROOMS: Very clean and simple. There were 2 3/4 or twin beds which when pushed together formed a king size, plus a day bed off to the side. There was an in-room fridge that was stocked daily with pop and
water. Bathroom was equipped with a separate toilet and stand-up shower, this was the only thing we weren't keen on, we found it to be
a bit cramped, but it was fine.
RESORT & GROUNDS: Very beautiful. The grounds are immaculately kept. Lots of lush vegetation, just truly very lovely to look at. We had been for warned about the fact that there were a lot of stairs to this resort to be able to get from point A to B..or anywhere in between. That is definitely the case...we counted one day how many stairs from our room to the lobby....102, therefore, this is the only reosrt I know of that comes complete with its own "Stair Master". Being that we knew of this, it was not a problem, however I could see it posing a problem with the elderly or people with small children.
We had also read rave reviews about the 7-level pool...it was very nice as well. There is an adults only pool; 2 that are kid friendly;
1 for activities such as volleyball and waterpolo; 2 that were more for show than swimming and the main pool that held the swim up bar - this was the busiest of them all. Lots of loungers to be found. There is very little, if any shaded areas to sit, but you can ask for a market umbrella to be set up - there are several stands already in place for that.
We ventured down to the beach on only 2 days, to be honest, is was not nearly as bad as we were expecting after reading previous reviews
- it was nice. It was not as nice as the area in which Playa Pesquero; Costa Verde and the Blau are located, but it was very clean
and the water for the most part clear, you do need to venture towards
the left we found, to find the best beach area. The resort offers lots of water activities such as paddle boats; kayaks; canoes; catamarans etc. We took a catamaran ride that took up over towards Playa Esmerelda and the Paradisus and Sol Luna y Mares resort, it was a lot of fun - beautiful area down there. The beach is where you will find the animation staff - this was a little unusual for us, as at the previous resorts we have stayed at, they have been, for the most part around the pool are. Nevertheless, they kept things lively with different activities such as beach volleyball; darts; aqua areobics etc. going on all the time.
FOOD: Most have heard the saying that "you don't go to Cuba for the food" well...that is true for this resort, specifically in regards to the a la carte restaurants. I am not a picky eater and rather enjoy dining in All Inclusive resorts (buffet and/or a la cartes) as it gives me a great option to try many new things. Having said that, we were extremely disappointed.
The resort is comprised of the following eating options:
- Two buffet's (1 for breakfast and dinner; 1 for lunch); 5 a la carte restaurants (Mediterranean; Asian; Cuban; Italian and the Grill); 24 Hour food and drink bar/lounge (Don Bartolo's) and a snack
bar located on the beach.
The main buffet the "Hacidenda" (breakfast & dinner) - was excellent,
and I would have to say, although not nearly as large as the buffet at Playa Pesquero, the quality of food was better in my opinion. Breakfast is the usual fare of fresh fruits; bacon; pancakes; french toast etc. and of course the made-to-order egg station - best omelets
I've ever had. Each night in the buffet had a different "theme" - our favourite being the Seafood night, it was great, gave us a good opportunity to try a lot of different types of fish and seafood, we thoroughly enjoyed it!!! They also do a "Gala Evening" where they relocate the buffet to the theatre, we had an a la carte reservation that evening, so did not attend, but it looked as though it was dinner and a show, it was set up very nicely. The lunch buffet
"Bucanero" was not as good we found - you will not starve, but the selection is not nearly as good and was repetitious daily. Aside from the buffet, there are 2 other options for lunch, one being the 24 Hr Don Bartolo's bar - there you can get burgers; hot dogs; pizza; fried chicken and a couple of sandwich options.
Another option
for lunch is the Snack Bar at the beach - here you can get burgers; hot dogs; pizza and ice cream. The food is not bad - we enjoyed the pizza - although we had read reviews it was fantastic - we felt it was just okay.
- A la Carte dining...this is main area where, we have found in the past, that most resort tend to shine in...I am afraid this is not so at the Playa Turquesa. We were allowed 3 a la carte reservations, and opted for the Italian; Mediterranean and Grill.
Our first night was the Italian...we were all disappointed in this one. We found for the most part, the food was cold, and to be brutally honest - horrible. Our group had a selection of different items and none received even a "good" report. They offer a selection of meat, fish and pastas - served various ways.
Next was the Mediterranean - again, quite a disappointment. We all ended up having the same meal, which was the Beef Sirlion, it was very disappointing. This a la carte offered a viariet of meats and seafood. Last but not least was the Grill - this was the best of the 3, but still not great. I started with a Cold Seafood Salad with bits
of lobster; clam shrimp and mussels - it was nice, a welcome treat compared to the other 2 restaurants - everyone else had the Beef Vegetable Soup which all commented, was very good. Entrees ranged from Seafood Platter; to Creole Chicken to a Mixed Meat Grill comprised of beef; chicken and pork - this was good, very tasty...
best a la carte we had.
EXCURSIONS: The only excursion we did during our stay was to take the shuttle to the market in Guardalavaca. Being that the third time to this area for all of us, we have already done most of the off-resort tours. However, we did hear excellent feedback on the Island Snorkeling/Safari Jeep tour as well as the Holguin City and Santiago de Cuba tours.
OVERALL: Overall, this resort was lovely, although it lacked in some areas, we still enjoyed our stay there. As I mentioned, we had previously visited Playa Pesquero on 2 occasions and there truly is no comparison between the 2 resorts, the latter being a far superior resort in all aspects. However - Playa Turquesa was a great value and
we would rate it above our stay at Breezes Jibacoa.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Crishna ~ Fredericton NB Canada |
September 2007
I know this is late however I wanted to express our sincerest thank you to all who write reviews.
Now it’s my Turn!! My Husband and I decided to go to the Grand Playa Turquesa after reading all the review on Debbie’s travel site.
We booked through another web provider after we found out that the sabbatical in the Dominican was the week we intended on going away.
We left Halifax NS early am and arrived in Holguin early am when we arrived we didn’t get rooms until 2pm which was fine as they took our luggage and locked it up in a small room by the front desk and we got to tour the resort have lunch and check out the pools’s and the beach!
THE BEACH:
The beach was absolutely amazing beautiful white sand and soft …. There were lots of shells and coral to pick up and keep if you wanted to.. the water while beautiful it is quite shallow not the greatest for swimming. But all the same you could cool off and enjoy the rays. One thin I liked best was on the Beach it was quiet and no vendors bothering you …I’ve traveled to Dominican and Cuba both I’d much rater approach the vendors rather than be hauled into a store by the arm.
Cuba is known for allowing you to shop at your leisure.
THE RESORT:
This resort was absolutely amazing .. VERY well taken care of and absolutely beautiful!!! Most of the Property has interlocking blocks and walk ways… there are 4 pools I believe maybe more we spent most of our time at the Adult pool where there were no children. A lot of kids were at this resort however there were areas that you could escape from the Kids. There was a beautiful court yard to relax and read and take everything in. You must enjoy walking at this resort as it is built on a small down grade and walking is necessary. However you could jump on a trolley as your walking. We didn’t mind the walking by the end of the trip we rather enjoyed our time walking as you got to explore new features of the hotel that you’ve never seen before… Before we went we read that the 500 Block was the place to be that’s not necessarily true.. we loved our Private balcony and our rooms were beside the main lobby.. and the XL buffet room.
THE RESTAURANTS:
XL Buffet:
This was amazing huge area and quite a lot to choose from…. Expect the unexpected for Breakfast… at the end of our Journey I was eating potatoes for breakfast and fresh veggies and fruit. .. coffee .. If I could suggest one thing it would be to bring Ketchup and Mustard…. My husband LOVES his Ketchup and theirs is watery and almost tastes like sweet and sour sauce but not quite!! Lets just say its not Heinz. This one was open every meal….
24hour bar:
This Doubled as a lunch area and an evening restaurant. This is THE BEST place to go for a late lunch!!
We loved our stake sandwiches on a bun and fries…. Also the Chicken sandwiches are good to… everything here is a MUST try. When it opened as a la Cart it was also the best place to eat. The food was delicious and by far the nicest.. 1 caution thought Bring your fly dope incase there’s a little rain or the fly’s are out… this is the only place we fought off Mosquitoes and we only had to do it while at the A la carte.
THE ITALIEN:
This was very good real pasta made from scratch and was very tasty after you added a little salt and pepper. There was lots to choose from.
THE CUBANA:
WAS AMAZING FOOD IF YOU LIKE SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT. Try it I would stay away from the Black beans unless you like them.
THE INTERNATIONAL:
We weren’t to keen on this restaurant…. I got the lobster.. lets just say that it isn’t Maritime lobster… they cut my lobster in half and filled it with a lobster mixture and I thought I was going to loose it.. but over all this restaurant was fairly decent for appetizers and other stuff.
THE CHINESE:
We didn’t make reservations there but friends of ours did and they LOVED it the best food they had all week!! ( they were very picky eaters)
Overall you could find food any time of day or night …. That would satisfy your hunger…
DAY EXCURSIONS:
The CATAMARAN AND SAFARI:
We books Transat Holidays and we decided to do the catamaran with the safari Jungle tour it was well worth the 85$US
We left at 8am .. And took a 30 min drive to pick everyone up maybe an hour to finally hit the catamaran and what a time we had the tour guides were EXCELLENT!!
We laughed and drank the whole time.. we sat up front in the nets with another couple that we traveled with and we had a blast!!! Waves splashing and lots of beer…
We arrived at the snorkeling area that was absolutely beautiful… I had never done this before and I was scared I have to admit but I ended up loving it.. the fish were the brightest blues and oranges and yellows I’ve ever seen.. just breath taking …. We then arrived at the Island docking station and we got off the catamaran …. To a wonderful beach and then to this little hideaway in the hill for a restaurant overlooking the beautiful Ocean. This was Breath taking.. the Island was known as Castro’s hunting refuge and with his age he’s turned it into a tourist attraction for everyone. While most people didn’t opt for the Safari trip part of it we did and we got to pick our driver who I called BOSS ….. LOL we had a fabulous time with him he kept us in stitches and we laughed the whole day even though he couldn’t speak a lick of English.
The whole trip all I wanted to see was zebras and he managed to find them for me!!! I had him saying Sexy Chicka.. by the end of the day.. What can I say this guy was a doll and he managed to get a HUGE Tip from our group we had that much FUN!!!
We returned to the group after our excursion of my husband on the back of a wild camel and me barreling through the woods to see my zebras…. We then wen horse back riding along the beach and had a wonderful day …. Back to the catamaran for more dinks and salsa music for the trip home!! We arrived at the resort approximately 7 pm in time to cool off and catch supper!! WOW what an amazing day!!
THE FULL DAY TRIP:
9-5 duration we enjoyed our selves on this trip, day of shopping and lunch and getting a bit of history on the country. Nice overall I would do this trip if you like leisurely time. Pretty cheep or 45$ US
Overall we had an amazing time and we plan on doing it again!! Hopefully next year!!! But in 2008 I want to go to the Playa Pesquero Resort apparently there is amontreal cheff there on staff and the food is even better there if you could imagine !!!
Thanks for your reviews and enjoy your trip!! I know we will.
If you have any questions please contact us at crishnabboyne@hotmail.com
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Dr. L. Terzic & family |
July 2007
August, 2005 – great experience
August, 2006 – fantastic vacation
August, 2007 – we are going there again this year
There is no need to repeat what many other guests have already written. Thumbs up!
If it wasn’t that good, would we go there again?
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Karyn, Les, Vincent & Victor ~ Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
May 2007
Myself, my husband and 2 boys aged 11 and 7.5 spent 2 glorious weeks at the Occidental Grand Playa Turquesa - Jan 4-18th, 2007. It is one of the best holidays we have had and we will definitely be returning to Cuba.
We flew Air Canada from Toronto -no complaints, great flight, lots of room.
We arrived around 8pm, unfortunately a few passengers lost their luggage so we were delayed from leaving the airport, didnt arrive to the hotel until 11:30pm but no worries. We were checked in immediately and taken by golf cart to our room. The room was very spacious, There were 2 -3/4 or double beds, not sure which, and 2 single beds for the boys. Lots of closet space, there is no tub, but the shower is in its own stall and so is the toilet, each with their own door. Talk about privacy. A/C worked great, lots of hot water and pressure, nice balcony with chairs and table. We were on the 1st floor and when someone checked in above us we could here them quite a bit, but I think their level of noisiness was extreme. The mini bar was limited, no beer or liquor supplied and you had to buy bottled water when yours was gone, which was very annoying. We went to the gym every morning and were allowed to take a bottle of water so we just kept the bottle and asked the bar to fill it for us.(problem solved)
The staff are wonderful friendly people who go out of their way to make your stay great( tips given always make them friendlier, and that worked for us)
The grounds are HUGE! There are always golf trollies going by to give you a lift, we always walked it, I mean after all the food we really needed the exercise. Everything was beautifully maintained and constantly being tended to. There were quite a few people who found the bugs to be troublesome. Luckily no one in my family experienced a problem with this but we saw a few people whose legs were bitten beyond belief! It looked quite irritating. I would recommend bug spray just to be safe. The hotel sprayed for bugs weekly, watch out for them, they leave a trail of bug fog behind them and you dont want to be stuck breathing in those fumes! The pathways are lit at night and there is alot of beautiful vegetation. Georgeous.
There were alot of choices at the buffet (2 of them). The main buffet was huge and had many things to choose from, I dont understand how anyone could possibly not be pleased(the rice pudding was incredible) Service was quick and friendly. The other smaller one was only open during the lunch hour and then closed as an Ala Carte restaurant, this one was close to our beach spot so it was where we went for lunch, choices were slimmer here, lighter lunch stuff so we opted to get a homemade pizza and ice cream from the little snack bar on the beach. This wee little hut on the beach made the best pizza and ice cream to die for!!!!! We got to the beach by 9am every morning and parked our behinds right in front of the snack hut, and right beside the snack hut was the beach bar - Kudos to Roberto and Ivan for making the best drinks you could get, only a 10 second walk from my beach chair, the pizza, ice cream and drinks right there on the beach was the best part for me, I am a beach bum so I was perfectly happy to lay there all day. We took thermo keg coolers to put our drinks in thanks to tips from other reviewers and you are crazy not too. The cups the drinks come in are teeny and your drink will be gone before you get back to your chair. My husband and I had 52oz keg coolers and they had no problem whatsoever filling them for us. We took smaller coolers for the boys and they filled them with slushies at the pool bar every morning on the way to the beach. The main bar serves a continental breakfast and has hotdogs/hamburgers/fries etc available after 10pm if you get hungry. We tried the grill restaurant, the asian, italian and caribbean. They were all average, we prefer the buffets, so many more options. Did I mention the pizza and ice cream on the beach!!!!
The beach was stupendous. Workers would always get you a chair and clean it off for you. Sand was beautiful. The water was so calm, warm and shallow. There is a reef about a km out which breaks the waves so the water is so smooth, great for relaxing, I didnt worry about the kids in the water once, we were in Puerta Plata and the water was so rough and wavy I couldnt take my eyes off of them, but here there were absolutely no worries whatsoever. There is some sea grass but it is totally manueverable, we saw some really pretty fish in the sea grass so we thought it was cool. There are paddle boats, kayaks, hobie cats, all free of charge, just book the time and they are yours, loads of fun. We would take the paddle boat out and snorkel off the boat near the reef, saw quite a few fish this way. Lots of little hermit crabs at the right end of the beach. The beach is very private and not very long, there are no other hotels in the near vicinity.
There is an adult pool which flows down into a lower pool, which again, flows down into another pool which has the swim up bar, then flows down again into a gradual shallow pool for the kids. The only thing I didnt like about the pool was that the water was a bit cold for me, but you could always find a chair, always clean, never crowded, beautiful.
The kids club was excellent. The ladies working there were absolutely incredible. The kids have their own clubhouse, with lots of activities, their own pool and it is gated in. The ladies would take the gang to the buffet for lunch, down to the beach snack hut for pizza and ice cream, I never once worried about them at the club. I felt guilty when my husband and I were eating lunch at the buffet and here come the kids club with our boys(it felt a little bit odd) but the boys had so much fun with the kids club they didnt want to spend the day with us( hey, I'm not complaining!) They had a mini disco every night and a fashion show once a week, it was really cute. We tipped these ladies huge, they were so deserving and one had a son a bit younger than mine so we left her a bunch of clothes for him(they have so little)
The nightly entertainment wasnt superb, but they tried really hard and they were all so incredibly friendly, some shows were better than others, dont expect great theatre.
We would spend the evening at the main bar playing pool, socializing with the many great people we met and watching George do his liqour bottle throwing displays. He was 3rd out of all of Cuba and it was very entertaining to watch him whip the stuff up in the air.
Didnt go into the disco, cant comment on it.
There are bicycles and mopeds to rent but we honestly dont recommend it. The 2 couples who we talked to both had encounters with the police while on the mopeds and both received tickets for the silliest things. Rules are much different over there and there is no arguing the point.
There is a small store but it really doesnt offer very much, there were always approximately 5-10 vendors either just off the pool area or on the beach, but not a whole heck of alot to buy. We went into Guardalavaca one day (10 min by taxi) and it took us about 1 hour tops to look at the shops and vendors there. Shopping here is very slim pickin, come prepared and dont plan on taking too many souvenirs home. It is nothing like the Dominican with vendors everywhere.
We went on the full day catamaran/snorkelling trip. Javier was an excellent guide, the boat ride was wonderful, as was the snorkelling. Javier dove down and caught a sea turtle and then brought it on the boat for a bit for us all to get pictures with, the boys were so amazed! The boat ride back was into the sunset and it was beautiful.
The only thing that wasnt perfect was the lack of things to do outside the resort. The day trips were minimal and there was no where to go outside the resort. It didnt make any difference to me, I was perfectly happy to lay on the beach for 2 weeks but my husband is the more adventurous type and started to get restless around day 11.
All in all it was a great holiday and I would definitely recommend the Occidental to anyone who truly wants to do nothing but relax and enjoy the weather. We prefer Cuba over The Dominican and are going to try Varadero next time!
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Bob & Tasha ~ Nova Scotia |
May 2007
Our party of four flew Skyservice, April 16-23rd. out of Halifax.
Had a wonderful trip, the resort was massive and beautiful, would
recommend this resort for anyone
Airport:
Let’s start at the beginning. Halifax airport check-in was fast, we
were there 31/2 hrs before departure, early.At security Tasha got
singled out for a pat down, lucky her, but it only took a moment and we
were off to duty free. Flight was delayed about ½ hr, but the captain
made up some time.
Skyservice flight was fine, had a little turbulence on way down, food
was good, had the breakfast burrito on way down and chicken enchiladas
on the way back, tasty and quite filling.
We arrived in Holguin petty much on time, uneventful going through
customs and security. Within 1/2 hr of landing we were enjoying a cold
cerveza by the bus. I exchanged our money at the airport, had no problems.
Our bus left for the hour ride to the resort and arrived 1st. So
check-in went fast, as we were 1st to the counter.
Hint: grab a few cold cerveza for the bus ride.
HINT: the ladies went straight to check-in while the men stayed and got the luggage.
We requested the 500 block, but ending up in the 300 section,which turned out to be a great spot.
The return trip through Holguin airport was a little more hectic. First
the bus was 1/2 hr late picking us up at the resort, then as is normal
all the
5 or 6 buses arrive at the airport at the same time.So it took about an
11/2 hours to check in and get through security.This left us little
time to check out duty free before they were ushering us to board the
plane.But I found time to have one last cerveza.
About this time the heavens decided to open up. We got our evening
showers early that day. Lol. We got wet on the golf cart ride to the
room, luggage and all. They have golf carts which you can take around
the resort. When you are walking keep an ear open for them, they scoot
around wide open.
Room:
The room was large and comfortable, consisted of 2- ¾ beds, which we
pushed together, day bed, chair and desk.
There was a safe in the closet, which we used. The bathroom was divided
into
3 sections, ideal for getting ready. The bar fridge was stocked on
arrival,
2 beer, pop and water, after that was gone we replenished ourselves.We
got large bottles of water from the bartenders, the cerveza is only
.90cuc each at the resort store, which I bought a few to stock the
frigde.The a/c worked very well, actually to well, a few nights I had
to get a blanket out of the closet. Lol. After that I turned it up to
20 to 21c and it was quite comfortable at night.
Shows:
Didn't see alot of the shows, but liked what we seen. But after the shows outside in the courtyard by Don Bartelo's there were live bands playing and they were very good.One night they had a synchonized swimming show in the activity pool, don't miss it, it was excellent.
Food:
The two buffet‘s were fine, the selection was not large, but I always
found something to fill my belly. We went to 2 a la carte restaurants;
I did not like the Asian, but loved the Italian. Didn't’t make it to
the grill, long story, which I will not get into here for a few people
would not like me to tell it.
Resort:
Was magnificent,the trees and plants are mature and full, you
wouldn't think the resort is only 3 years old.There is stairs, but
there are breaks as you go up, or you can follow the roads and avoid
the stair, or jump on one of the golf carts.
There are 7 pools, with waterfalls, very beautiful.A couple of the pools are only knee deep,the adult pool at the top and the swim up bar pool are the deepest.The activity pool, which is the middle pool is also deep in area's.I found they did not have enough shade around the pools, only a hand full of umbrellas and some build in shade shelters around the bottom pool.
The bars were great, except the lobby bar did not open until 4pm, so, no were close to get a cold cerveza while checking in. Make sure to try a Crazy Canadian drink at Don Bartello's, hmmmmmm.
I tried my first mojito and didn't like it, I will try them again next time, maybe it's a acquired taste.
Although, I did win first place in the cuba libre drink making contest at the beach.
Beach:
Loved the beach,but no umbrellas or cabana, although there are many trees to find shade under.
The water was warm ,but no waves and lots of seaweed, which they are continually cleaning out.The water is shallow, had to walk out far to swim.
There is some coral reef, which I snorkeled to and saw lots of colorful fish and plants, water was a bit murky so pictures did not show how colorful they were. The beach bar was great and the pizza hut was a hit, good pizza and ice cream. When facing the ocean take a right and stroll down the beach until you see a path, and you will find lots of holes and hiding inside are colorful craps.On our way back to our chairs it was easy to spot were we were sitting, because before we left we put our Nova Scotia and Canadian flags in front of our chairs.And we caught people taking pictures of it, and we got to talk to a lot of new friends.
Make sure to check out the tower by the beach buffet,Buccaneeros, great view of the resort.
I have no major complaints of this resort, again highly recommend for anyone.
Already planning our next year trip, maybe to Varadero.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Kelly & Jason ~ Nova Scotia |
April 2007
My boyfriend & I traveled to Cuba in April of 2007.
We flew out of Halifax, Nova Scotia with Skyservice. My first words of advice for you are to call the 1-800 # and confirm your flight! For some reason we didn’t do this and our 6:30am flight was delayed until about 1:45pm. (however we were at the airport at 4am)
The delay cost us a day of our vacation. The Skyservice attendants explained that they were backed up by the previous days poor weather and that the crew needed to sleep. (why they weren’t able to bring in relief crew is open to speculation)
We arrived at the Holguin airport by evening & went to collect our luggage. All the bags came except for my boyfriends. We went to the lost & found and discovered that our luggage had been sent to Varadero & we wouldn’t get it until Thursday night, which ended up being 10:30am Friday morning, which caused us to miss breakfast. (that sounds pretty whiney doesn’t it?)
By the time we got to GPT is was 8pm. Check in was pretty simple & off to the room we went. Out TA had assured me that we had been booked into the much sought after “500 block.” Our room number was 173. I imagine that due to our late check-in our room was filled.
The rooms are nice. The one we had consisted of 2 twin beds that we pushed together, a day bed and a deck chair.
The patios all have nice canvas chairs.
The bathrooms are split up into a toilet stall, a shower stall and the main bathroom area. There is a hair dryer in the bathroom.
(tip for the ladies – if you flip your hair over and blow-dry it in front of you like I do, your hair will get sucked into the back of the dryer)
The safe in the room in great, you program it yourself & it’s free.
The resort is massive! They have golf cart trolleys that will take you where you need to go.
We went for our orientation meeting with Signature the 1st day there, they hold the meetings in the theatre. The acoustics are so poor in there that most of the people left before the presentation was over. From what I was able to hear, most of the talk was about the tours.
There is a snack bar located adjacent to the stage that is open during the day as an alternative to the buffet. (Unfortunately we discovered that on the last day.)
The buffet is fine; I certainly was satisfied after each meal. I was surprised at the size of it, I did find it rather small compared to the size of the resort.
The pools are very nice but they do lack shade. There is one swim up bar. Let me advise you, you can drink your face off for an entire afternoon and think you are fine…but once you get out of that pool you will discover that you can’t walk that well! The water fools your body into thinking that you aren’t “as think as you drunk I am”
The beach is the best I’ve been to. There isn’t any manmade shade but there isn’t a need for it….there are trees providing great shade all over the beach. And when the drunk guy shows up and screams about the GREAT F*&KING time he is having for 20 minutes and then proceeds to throw up all afternoon (Roy from Nova Scotia anyone?) you will find that there is room to move away from him.
As you’ve probably heard, the pizza that you can get at the beach bar is delicious!
The shows each evening are…….you’ll see.
Ironically, I had no problems with the mosquitoes or sandfleas. Usually I am COVERED with bites, I have scars to prove it. I sprayed my feet and arms with repellant each day and had no problem!
We went on the speedboat excursion which I wouldn’t recommend. They led us crisscross across the bay, down a river canal, back up the river, criss crossed the bay & out into the ocean….crisscrossed the bay some more and by the time I couldn’t feel my arse anymore it was finally over.
The last day we had a 10:30 departure so the bus was coming to pick us up at 6:30am. As a courtesy, the resort opened the breakfast buffet an hour early for us at 5:30am. Thanks for that.
They forgot to assign the staff to work I think. There was nothing to drink, no water, no glasses. I have no issue serving myself, but give me the tools to do so! Finally we were able to get some luke warm water from the water machine.
They had some boiled eggs set out, some leftovers from the previous evenings dinner, dry cereal (really dry – nothing to pour over it) and some fruit cocktail & peaches.
I was going to take a picture to show you but I was too tried and hungry!
The bus that was due to pick us up was naturally ½ hour late…Cuba time and all that jazz.
Interesting to note like that when people see a bus, they flock to it like there was a resort full of lepers behind them. Grown adults acting children. Why not sit and relax and enjoy your last few moments at the resort rather then clamoring around a bus that clearly doesn’t have room for you?
The Holguin airport baggage check in was interesting. Our bags were overweight and he wanted to charge us $150.00. However, after we gave him 5 CUC he seemed to forget about the overweight problem….
Now, at this point we are STARVING (refer to crappy breakfast outlined above) We went upstairs at the airport to the restaurant and ate…it’s very good!
Flight home was uneventful, our luggage didn’t take any further sidetrips.
We have complained to Skyservice and they are compensating us for each day the luggage “lost”
I know this review is mostly bad points. This doesn’t mean that the resort is a bad choice. We had a nice vacation, none of the above things ruined our vacation or even was something we thought about for very long.
I just wanted you to know what to expect when you go there, and you should go there just don’t expect a magical paradise where everything goes as planned.
Any questions? Email me: Kelly_Atchison@hotmail.com
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Natasa and Zarko |
April 2007
My husband and I with our two kids ( and 3)
flew Air Transat to the GPT March 30 to April 06.
We had a great flight, fast customs upon arriving in Cuba ,great Air Transat oganizationand almost perfect vacation..............
The only time we spent waiting in line was check in to the hotel room but other then that everything was excellent.
We got room 612 witch is close to the beach,pool and the kids club. We loved our room especially separate compartment( shower, toilet and powder room)
Somebody mentioned in reviews that if you leave a tip one day as a reword you will get a towel swan and if you forget to leave tip second day you will get nothing
Hmm..............
that did not happened to me! We would get towel swan every morning.
You are more than welcome to leave a tip but that doesn't mean you will not get the same service and the same smile if you do not leave anything.We spent about 170 CAD in tipping and we left some clothing , cosmetics and some kids stuff........ Cubans are the nicest people I ever met.
We loved the white sandy powdery beach..............beach bar,ice cream and pizza at the beach.............. What more can you expect............. Kids loved it! And off course my husband and I enjoyed Roberto's specials. Here is a tip :bring traveler mug a really big ones you don't have to get up every single minute for another drink.Believe me the plastic cups are so small.
Food , well , you could always find something that you like. We loved La Hacienda. As Air Transat clients we had 5 a la carte restaurants and we like all of them.
Almost perfect vacation............
I am sure many off families that were there at the same time as we are would remember a little girl with few stitches in her forehead............She was running around and as clumsy as she is she fell over and hit her forehead on the corner of a stone. Thanks to the Medical stuff and their organization she was felling
just fine. SO we survived that day. First thin I ask doctor "should we go home? and he said off course not this is you vacation she will be perfectly fine.And she did.
So if you have small kids and planning to go to GPT gooooooooo ............ Medical stuff is awesome........
Overall we are going back some time..........It was awesome.......
If you have any questions regarding this resort don’t hesitate to e-mail me zarkojaric@rogers.com !
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Brad & Kellie |
April 2007
We went to the GPT March 30 to April 6 with three other families, 17 of us in total. We had a great time!
Check in was a bit of a fiasco. We all had requested adjoining rooms with our children. We were the only family to get them. Trying to explain the importance of your childrens room being connected to your room was like talking to a wall. The front desk should look into getting their end straightened out. Of course we all wanted to be in the 400 or 500 section and apparently they don't even have adjoining rooms there?? Our family ended up in rooms 174 and 175 and luckily for us they connected. We stayed put for the week. I don't know what the big deal is about where your room is located because we didn't mind being there at all. We would call for the shuttle and within 5 minutes it would be there. Everyone had fun riding the shuttles, we looked forward to it!
Our rooms were pretty nice. Although our one patio door did not lock when we got there they did come to fix it. It actually wasn't broke you just had to close it a certain way for it to lock. In the one room we had a queen bed and a day bed set up like a couch. The other room had two twin beds and the day bed. There were mini frig's that were restocked every other day with water, beer and pop. The washrooms were large with three seperate areas, sink in one, shower in one and the toilet in the other. Great set up when you are getting ready. We had a nice balcony with two very comfortable chairs. We sat out each morning having a coffee while the kids slept. Coffee was restocked each morning by the maid. Our maid left towel art or did something fancy with the bedsheets every day. My daughter loved this, so much that she didn't want to wreck her towel to shower!! Our room faced a wooded area so we never got much sun in the room and there were a few lingering mosquitoes in the morning. Not a big deal though. There is a safe in each room that is free to use. I suggest using it as our son's MP3 player was taken the first day we arrived. I didn't realize he had left it out or I would have locked it up. Later in the week someone else in our group lost theirs too. Put your valuables in it, don't leave them lying around!!
We travel quite a bit to all inclusives so I wasn't expecting too much with the food. I have had much better but I didn't starve. The kids could find something at the buffet even if it was just pasta. The fresh orange juice in the mornings was great. They could have a few more pitchers of it though because half the time you had to wait for it. There is limited fresh fruit but always some each morning. They also have canned fruit, like peaches and fruit cocktail. There was only one toaster which you needed to use twice so the lineup there was fairly long. There are ommelette stations all over the place, not just one like most resorts we've been to. They have very thin pancakes and french toast but the syrop is not like ours. We took pancake syrop but I did try the banana syrop that they served. We never ate lunch at the main buffet. We usually had pizza or ate at the snack bar where they have hamburgs, fries, pizza and steak on a bun, etc. The kids liked the icecream sundaes. Take your own Heinz ketchup if your kids are fussy, their ketchup is nothing like ours. We went through 4 bottles of it between the four families. I liked the al la cartes. My kids seemed to enjoy them too. My favourite was the Chinese. The biggest problem is trying to figure out what you want, everything sounds great then you might just get something that you didn't expect. But you can always go to the Buffet if you don't like what you get. The night we ate at the Chinese two kids in our group went to the Buffet and brought pasta to the table. The staff didn't seem to mind.
I really liked the pool set up. At the very top of the hill is the adult pool. With 9 kids in the group we just kept walking. The sports pool was fun. The kids could touch bottom and still play soccer or basketball or whatever they were playing. Everyone's kids joined in too so they meet others as well. We usually spent most of the time at the circle pool which was conveniently located right next to the pool bar and deeper pool. I liked this bar and the staff. The kids were waited on just as quick as adults and the bartenders joked around all the time. They would tie a knot in your straw and put it in your cup and watch you....then laugh like crazy. They were very nice. I never felt obligated to tip but we did periodically. There isn't even a tip jar out that I could see. They had the slushie drinks at the pool bar but you could get whatever you wanted. Watch the rum though, they pour it like water!!!
We really liked the beach area too. It is very pretty, prettier than the pictures look. It is funny that there aren't any palm trees but the trees that are there are pretty too. It was never crowded and you could always get a chair. There were piles of them all over the place. Staff would jump up and get you a chair if you went to get one. They didn't hang around waiting for a tip either. The water is very clear and safe for the kids. It's nice and shallow for a ways out. The temperature was great. They had staff pulling out the sea grass the whole week we were there, it looked like an awful job!! But they are slowly clearing the water to make it even nicer. We took out the paddle boat and the hobie cat. You have to reserve these the morning you want to go on them. My son played soccer all week at the beach with lots of other kids. There were vendors set up at the beach for a few days. Other days they were set up by the circle pool, probably because it was too windy at the beach. These vendors change each day so if you see something don't wait because you might not find it again. There is a bar and you can get pizza and icecream at the beach. In behind the beach is another restaurant and bar, it is close to the kids club. We ate lunch there one day.
Some of the kids went to the kids club. It is absolutely huge, with their own kids pool and mini chairs around it. There are many rooms, it is like a little apartment building. Our 9 year old daughter went twice and had an okay time. She really liked the one lady but I think my daughter might have been getting too old for it. Both times that she went I showed up with another Mom to see what they were up to. The staff were standing around talking to each other and the kids were in playing ping pong by themselves. It might have been just bad timing to have arrived twice to this. They practiced a fashion show at the kids club and they got to show their fashions at the main show one night. They also took some Spanish lessons while there. You could leave your kids here all day if you wanted to, ours would only stay a couple of hours. It is a nice break for parents though.
The shows were pretty standard Cuban entertainment. It started off each night with the mini disco from 8:30 to 9:00 but then the next show didn't start till 9:30. The one show we arrived to watch was not age appropriate for kids at all. The others were better. Our daughter loved the shows and always wanted to watch them. Our son would rather have been back at the room watching tv. If you watched the whole show you would be back to your room by 10:30. While we watched the nightly show the kids liked to go the bar and order a drink from Tiger. He was very entertaining. He could juggle three bottles at a time and catch ice in a cup in his back pocket! The kids loved watching him as well as the adults!!
We did the Dolphin swim and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. The kids got to ride the dolphins, pet them and get a kiss from them. We did the half day tour of this and it was incredible. We also rented a mini van one day for three hours and went to a school, museum, visited a Cuban family home and stopped at the small market in Guardalavaca. It was a great time. The family we visited did not know we were coming and made us all feel very welcome. They served us coconuts with straws in them, fresh coconut, other fruit and cut up sugar cane for everyone. Then they did something I have never had before, they pressed the sugar cane through a machine and served us fresh sugar cane juice. It was something else to see! We left them some clothes and some tips. Visiting the school was a real eye opener for the kids in our group. Very primitive to what they are used to. We got to tour around the school a bit and watch the children. We gave gifts at the school to the teachers to be distributed. Paper, pencils, balls. etc.
I really think the Cubans like gifts better than money. We would talk to the men driving the shuttle busses or the bartenders, cleaning ladys, gardeners etc. and find out about their children. Then we would give kids clothes to them for tips. They are so appreciative! I wish we would have had more to give.
All in all this was a great trip with our family and friends and would recommend this resort to anyone. Take lots of gifts and clothes to give away!!! Out of everywhere we have travelled there is just something special about the Cuban people!! Go and see for yourself!
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April 2007
We visited Grand Playa Turquesa from March 25th to April 8th, 2007. We travelled from Toronto with Air Transat (upgraded to Club Class), and highly recommend this upgrade. Return was with Westjet. Only problem we encountered with the travel arrangements was departure day.
Very unorganized pick up - were supposed to be picked up at 9.00 a.m.. Due to a mix-up, it was 10.30 a.m. before the Air Transat rep finally got us on another bus heading to the airport for our Westjet flight at 12.35!! Needless to say, it was a scramble at the airport to get thru check-in and security in time. They did apologize and advised us the mix-up was probably due to us being flown down with Air Transat and returning with Westjet. I do believe that some more organization is required for departures..and the Travel Reps should be present with a list of passengers departing for each flight.
Regarding the actual Resort :: we were located in Room 511, which was a perfect location, close to pools, beach and the beach restaurant. Room was kept spotlessly clean daily. Air Transat customers have the mini bar re-stocked every 2 days. This happened during the first week, but was sporadic during the second week, and we had to make a call requesting water a few times. The beach is spectacular - lots of beach chairs and lots of shade under many trees. The pools are lovely, but the resort needs to provide additional shade around all of the pools. It was inadequate, and on some really hot days, the pools were hardly being used. The landscaping around the resort is very beautiful. We have only stayed at one other resort in the area - Playa Costa Verde. Comparison of the 2 resorts:: Food is much better at Turquesa - Buffet and the other restaurants are all excellent. Rooms are similar; more shade around the pool at Costa Verde, but preferred the location and the beach at Turquesa. Another comparison is the Lobby at both resorts..... Lobby at Costa Verde is wonderful - bar is open all day and seating is plentiful and very comfortable. Lobby at Turquesa was not as good. Lack of seating, and the bar is only open in the evening. The snack bar at Turquesa, however, is 24 hour service. Most people used this bar in the evening to meet up with friends. Staff at both Resorts are wonderful!!!
We spent approx. $450. Can on Tips, Taxis and a few assorted purchases at the Market during our 2 weeks. We did not do any organized trips, but did travel off the resort by taxi to tour around. We also took a tour of Playa Pesquera, visited Guardalavaca market and walked along to Brisas. The Guardalavaca beach is also spectacular.
We left many items of clothing, cosmetics, medications etc. with various staff members. They do appreciate anything you can give them. Tips given in the restaurants are shared by all the staff.
Computers are available in the lobby – a card for 1 hour internet use costs 6 CUC.
Overall, I feel that Grand Playa Turquesa is an excellent resort, really good value, and you will not be disappointed in the least by your decision to travel there. We would certainly return, but would like to experience another resort next year.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Barry |
March 2007
11 of us went to GPT from March 6-13/07. Coming from southern Ontario and ranging in age between 9 months and 73 years.
We chose GPT specifically because of reviews of this being a very family-oriented resort with a great kids club.
Flight and customs out of Toronto was on-time and uneventful. We flew Sky Service and it was adequate, it would've lived up to its reputation as sky squish if we hadn't split the four kids up so that there was more room for the adults in the seats. Having an 8 year old beside you certainly enabled one to encroach on their space a little.
Customs upon arriving in Cuba could've been faster if I hadn't been bringing in a suitcase of medicine from Not Just Tourists. I was flagged for a secondary inspection and watched as everyone else headed to the bus. They guards saved me for last and seemed to be passing my passport back and forth as it seemed no one wanted to talk to me. The guard that lost questioned my intentions and grilled me on my destination, what I intended to do with the medicine, did I know the name of the doctor I was going to see and why I was doing this. Keeping the bus and passengers waiting was making me second guess doing this charitable act. The guard finally let me leave with the suitcase saying "you brought it into the country, you deal with it" Thereafter I was referred to by the other passengers as the "drug lord"
We had emailed and phoned 3 times each requesting rooms in the same building or at least in the same block of 500 series rooms, as this was closest to the beach, kids club and lunch buffet. Being a large group we naturally wanted to stay close together. We even had a person fluent in Spanish phone and confirm our requests. When we checked in, 3 families in our party were in the 400 series of rooms, not the same building, and one family was put into the 100 series, opposite end of this very large resort. After some discussion the other family was able, the next day, to move into a room in the 400 series making that part of our stay much more enjoyable as it was now a short walk to each others rooms and the 400 series of rooms would've been our second choice.
This was a second visit to Cuba for 4 of the adults, myself included, and a first for 3 adults. But a first for all of us to this resort.
It definitely lived up to its billing as a beautifully laid out resort. It was too much walking for my 73 year old mother-in-law and whichever parent was carrying the toddler but with the golf cart trains constantly driving by hitching a ride up the mountain for meals was never a long wait, and therefore the walking aspect should not be a deterrence to anyone thinking of going there.
Everyone loved their rooms and we all commented on the practicality of having separate compartments inside the bathroom for grooming, showering and toilet, enabling 2 or 3 people at a time to get ready.
Maid service was interesting. Some of us received coffee everyday for our in room coffee makers while others did not. The first morning we were in a rush and did not leave anything out for the maid, the second day we remembered and received a towel swan. The third day we forgot again, no towel swan. Notice the trend?
The buffets were large and it would be impossible not to find something for everyone. From the omelets and pasta stations to the fresh fruit, cereals, pizza, breads etc. You won't go hungry and there should be no anxiety over meals. Although after 7 days of eggs for breakfast I've yet to have them at home since returning.
We went to three al a cartes. The Mediterranean, The Grill and Italian. All were very good and a welcome change from the buffets. I highly recommend the beef tenderloin and the baked lasagna. For lunch variety there is burgers and fries available at the Grill restaurant, and pizza at the beach bar.
I repeated something I did 2 years ago at The Sol Luna Y Mares in Holguin with different results. I took a duffel bag filled with Molson Canadian " I am Canadian!" t-shirts for the bar staff. Last time they were well received, this time they were barely acknowledged, if at all. After a couple days of this I decided that if the resort workers weren't appreciating them that I would do something else with them. So I took the bus trip to Guardalavaca and traded them with the vendors for Cuban shirts, hats and other souvenirs. Both sides to this bartering seem pleased and I would do this again in the future. Even the nylons, toothpaste, soaps etc. weren't well received by the resort staff. I don't know if it's just the workers at this resort or whether resort workers in general come to expect these trinkets from the guests so that an individuals gift isn't as well received. This wasn't an isolated occurrence but resort-wide from maids to waitresses to bartenders etc.
I'm the gift giver while my brother, who was in our group, and was last in Cuba 6 years ago in Varedero, is the big tipper. Thinking nothing of throwing around 10-20 CUC everywhere we went. He noticed also the change from his last visit to Cuba, when the U.S. dollar was king, that his tipping wasn't acknowledged at all so he stopped. A simple smile and a gracias was all we were really looking for.
My wife and I decided to pack up our remaining gifts, toiletries, toys etc. and rented a scooter. I know everyone from the tour rep on down says not to rent the scooters because of the road conditions but I've been driving motorcycles for 20 years so felt confident in my abilities. Would I recommend someone renting a scooter? Yes, so long as you look ahead and down at the upcoming road conditions and react accordingly. We loaded up our gifts into our scooter and spent an hour riding around the countryside. Stopping once at a little boy with his brother and mother who were waving a greeting at us. We gave them our booty and it was appreciated and we felt better about this than giving to the unappreciative resort workers (in our opinion).
My last word on a couple of the workers was the beach chair worker that hounded us to buy cigars from his "friend" every time we went to the beach and to leave him all our toiletries when we left and do we have any clothes for his 20 year old son. Nice enough guy but sure seemed like a hustler. The individual that manages the beach towels wanted my fathers watch and whatever delightful cologne I was wearing. And lastly one of the women that worked at the kids club asked my 8 year old son for his sunglasses because, as he tells it, it's so much easier for him to replace than for her to obtain. This caused my blood to boil but only for a second as they were dollar store sunglasses and I wasn't going to hunt her down and demand there return, it wasn't worth it. But rather low class to ask a child for something when the parents aren't around. What I figured to be a mistake was my sister-in-law having a lot of children's clothing taken from their room. She said they were folded at the foot of her bed on top of a suitcase. I told her that the maid probably thought they were left for her and after a call to the office all but one skirt was returned the next day with apologies. Apparently the missing skirt was already at a fleamarket according to the maid.
Towards the end of our visit we did encounter some really nice waitresses and wished we had more to give them and they seemed genuinely happy that we were happy with their service.
My 8 year old just loved the kids club and insisted on rushing through breakfast to get there and didn't want us to come get him until kids club was over for the day. Our 10 year old was a little bored with it so hung out with the adults generally. My brother and his wife used the baby-sitting service a couple of times and were quite pleased. You can arrange this through the kids club for 10 CUC an hour.
The resort is large and very beautifully laid out. The pools connected by waterfalls were a wonder to see. The water in the pools and ocean were warm and refreshing. There was a minor problem getting loungers on the beach a couple times, as I think the resort was at capacity as it was March break for some. But as soon as it neared lunch time there were plenty of empty loungers.
A few of us rented a taxi and delivered two suitcases of medicine to a clinic in nearby Melilla. No problems there. We handed some toiletries, toys etc. to the people in the waiting room.
The a la cartes seemed unwilling to handle groups larger than 5 for reservations, so we reserved two tables of 5 for the same time and much to management's chagrin proceeded to push our tables together so that we could all sit together. They did not want to do this for us so we did it ourselves. We're in the restaurant business ourselves and knew enough to take tables at the back away from the other guests and not to impede any traffic flows. We were not depriving anyone of a table as we would've used two tables of 5 for the same duration as one table of 10, and to have our group separated by the 4 feet between tables seemed ridiculous. It may have been against their policy but in Cuba as in Canada, the customer is always right.
Overall this resort is listed as a 4 star and it's well deserved. I don't know what its missing for a higher rating. The sheer size may intimidate some fearing they'll be lost and not find their way around but there are guards / helpers at every intersection 24 hours a day offering direction if you ask.
The big question. Would we go again? We'd consider it if we were traveling with the kids but not if we were traveling without. I'd highly recommend it for young families. Having been to Holguin twice now I'd like to try another part of Cuba.
Any questions please feel free to email me.
cheers@itcanada.com
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Peggy & Bill ~ Brantford, Ontario |
March 2007
First, Travelers you are lead to believe the exchange is similar to what you would pay for US$, well that's not true. We paid at the airport in Cuba 1.3188 on every Canadian $ and if you convert US$ they charge an additional 10% to exchange to their Convertable Peso. The resorts are higher. Grand Playa Turquesa is absolutely beautiful but if you have any difficulties walking or getting around do not go to this resort (several stairs and very spread out). The rooms were nice but there are absolutely no Ocean View rooms anywhere on this resort. The food was fairly good at the Al a Cartes and depending on when you arrive you can get more than what your package may indicate. They book their Al a Cartes from Sun thru Sat., so if you arrive on Wed. as we did we were able to get an Al a Carte for Thurs thru Sat and then again Sun and Monday (5 instead of 3). The Italian and Cuban were excellent. At the bars, (other than the Beach bar) if you're young and female you will get served immediately otherwise expect to wait (even if you tip). We thought the excursions were somewhat expensive as well. Holguin Highlights ($158 pesos a couple)is not worth the money. It is a long time on the bus for very little to do. The steam engine train ride is similar to a train ride at an amusement park. Very little to see, although the local musicians on board were good. The tour through the cigar making factory was okay but unless you were right by the tour guide (and I mean right by her)you really didn't hear much and absolutely no cameras allowed in there.Holguin itself really had very little to see. Unless you're into old cars and old architecture there's not much else (several beggars as well), same with the final part of this tour in the fishing village (museum was also not accessible for anyone who could not climb several stairs). Very long day and again would not recommend for anyone who has difficulty getting around and small children will be bored. The Catamaran trip was fun,however, if you like to snorkel they make you wear a life jacket and for those of us who had experience snorkeling this was a nuisance. Someone on the tour noted that the scuba diving in the area was not that great either. The food on this excursion was actually extremely good and the Safari Jeep ride was fun (you will pay extra for this), although it depends on which guide you get as to what you see (also these guides speak very little English). Tour guides on both of these trips were very good and very informative which helped a great deal. Cuba is a great place to go if you like to lay on the beach or by the pool but for those who are more adventurous and like to go on walks in the local areas or go shopping this is not the place to go. One last thing - when buying your liquor to bring home I recommend you buy it at the airport- it is cheaper than anywhere else and they carry all the same brands.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Brian ~ Canada |
March 2007
Our family, my wife, Grand-daughter (age 14) and I were at this resort February 6th,2007 till February 13th,2007.
We have nothing bad to say about this resort, as they were more than hospitable to not only us but to everybody we now of that were there. Sure the food is different but what did you expect, you are in another country with different tastes and food preparations. Although we were able to get hamburgers or hotdogs and fries anytime you wanted. The Prime roast beef was served twice and it was excellent. The Italian restaurant was in itself delightful with it’s six course meals (small portions), but order seconds. The Mediterranean restaurant was great and the Lobster Thermodore was excellent. The various swimming pools are a delight, but my favourite was the swim up bar ask IVAN to fix a RUM PUNCH with DARK RUM and you’ll drink nothing else all week. The Amoretto with pineapple juice isn’t so bad either. OH HELL, there all good in the sun.
The rooms are spacious and different as the bathroom is divided into it’s own little compartments and we found this helpful when trying to get ready for supper. Word to the wise the A/C goes off when you open the balcony doors.
I could go on and on but there is so much that we liked about this resort we will surely go back and highly recommend it. They say it is not for the people that can’t walk a lot, but I hate walking and found the inter-hotel taxi were great (large golf carts). Sure there are stairs but also there are many levels in between steps.
Also, I left my credit card wallet behind and the room maid found it after we checked out and give it directly to the front office, who in turn notified our travel agent SELLOFF VACTIONS (CONQUEST VACATIONS) that they had it and I got it back with no problems. A BIG THANK YOU TO Laura Palmer from CONQUEST. We will use them again as the resort rep. was always there when he said he would be, or he left a note at our room for us.
If you have any questions regarding this resort don’t hesitate to e-mail me b_ramsey1@hotmail.com for more info.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Leanne |
February 2007
Photos
We were at theGrand Playa Turquesa from February 5-12, 2007. This was our first time to Cuba, but I have been to Jamaica, and Puerto Plata, DR.
We arrived at the resort around 6 pm. Check in was efficient and painless. We didn’t have to wear wristbands, but we did see some people who were. We didn’t find out why some did and some didn’t’. There is no need to leave a credit card number at the front desk. The room safe is included. It is a combination lock that you set when you get to the room. You receive a ticket for towels when you check in. You hand it in at the towel shack and get your towels (1 per person). Each day you can exchange your towels once. At the end of your stay you hand in your towels and receive the ticket back. Internet cards are available at the front desk 6 CUC for one hour. We found it to be quite good. The connection is slow but we never had too many problems. The only problem that we encountered were inconsiderate teenagers on MSN while people were lined up to use it. There are 4 computers. I think there was 1 day when all four were working, most times there were 2 or 3. Still not an issue. Check out was extremely quick. Give back your room keys your towel ticket and you are done.
We truly enjoyed our stay at GPT. The resort is huge with lots of walking and stairs. Make sure you take good walking shoes, you’ll need them! We spent most of our time at the beach however, some afternoons the wind picked up and I would head over to one of the many pools to read. Beautiful white sand and clear water. It wasn’t that long so if you’re beach walkers there isn’t a lot of room to walk However if you continue to the right there is a path that goes for a ways, not sure how long we didn’t go right to the end. There is lots of natural shade on the beach and there is also lots of sun. To the left the beach is less crowded as it is further from the bar and the pizza shack. The water is quite shallow and there is quite a bit of sea grass, but it is not too bothersome. They have men working hard pulling the seagrass out of the water to make it better for people in the water. There are pedal boats, catamarans, wind surfers, etc available for use. Reservations are made at the activity hut on the beach. You have to book them early as they fill up quickly.
As I said, the resort is huge. The lobby and the most of the restaurants are at the top of the hill, the pools cascade down the hill and most of the rooms are at the bottom of the hill. The rooms are a good size and kept very clean by the staff. The bathrooms are spotless. They have a very long vanity with sink, blowdryer and magnifying mirror. There are 2 separate “rooms” one with the shower, another with the toilet. There are
2 very comfortable sling type chairs on the balcony. We spent a few afternoons reading on the balcony after we came back from the beach/pool.
The food at the resort is good. There is definitely no reason to go hungry at all. You must remember that Cuba does not import anything from the US so all that they have is either local or imported from Europe and other countries. We notice things imported from Spain, Italy, etc. We ate at the Cuban, Mediterranean and Grill restaurants and enjoyed the food at all of them. The Cuban restaurant was different, however if we wanted the same food as we have at home we wouldn’t have travelled to Cuba! At the buffet, breakfast was always good. Fresh OJ, the omelette station, fresh fruit, bread, cereal, cheeses, croissants, pancakes, french toast, fresh fruit yogurt smoothies, bacon, eggs, and all sorts of things. The only thing missing was pancake syrup. If you want maple syrup for your pancakes and french toast I would recommend taking your own. Their syrup is honey or the flavoured syrups for ice cream (strawberry, banana, vanilla) but these worked well too. Lunch was also served at the main buffet, but the Mediterranean restaurant which is near the beach also had a buffet and there is the pizza shack on the beach. By the way, the pizza was very good. The dinner buffet again wa good. Always lots of selection. A grill where they served chicken, pork or beef as well as a seafood grill that usually had shrimp, fish and sometimes calamari and other seafood. There was also a pasta bar at the lunch and dinner buffets. The most important factor with the food, we never went away hungry and we didn’t get sick. With respect to the a la carte restaurants there are 5 (Cuban, Mediterranean, Grill, Asian and Italian). Make reservations as soon as you can during the week because they book up. We didn’t have any problem getting into the ones that we wanted to because we were pretty flexible with the times and days that we wanted to go.
Don Bartalo’s is the 24 hour bar/restaurant. In the evening part of it becomes the Grill restaurant. We spent most evenings here playing cards and visiting with people from all over. The Cappucino’s, Spanish Coffee and most drinks here are great. Try the Crazy Canadian!
The staff at the resort are all great. Granted you might have a few who aren’t as talkative or smiling, but lets face it we all have bad days!
The english spoken at the resort is great, we never had a problem communicating with any staff. Tips are not expected by anyone, sure sometimes service improves with a tip but the same thing happens at home. We didn’t take a lot of “things” to tip with we tipped a CUC here and there all was appreciated.
There is a small bar fridge in each room, there are 2 colas, 2 lemon lime soft drinks, 2 beear and 2 large bottles of water. With Signature Vacations, the fridge is restocked once per week, which wasn’t a big deal since you can get all the drinks you want at any of the bars, etc.
Overall, we had a wonderful vacation and have started telling friends to save their money to go back with us in 2 years. If there is one thing that I could change….the mosquitos! They are plentiful and they bite.
Take bug spray and also take some benadryl and maybe some lanacane cream for the itching.
Keep in mind that one of the big benefits of this resort (vs other places I’ve been) is that you can drink the water from the taps. They recommend taking bottled water on tours, but at the resort you don’t have to worry. That was nice when brushing teeth, and just needing a drink of water in the room.
Go with an open mind, you are in Cuba. Relax, enjoy the beautiful country and the wonderful people. If you want things the way they are at home…stay home, this is a poor country and they are doing the best with what they have!
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Rob and Kim (robnkim) |
January 2007
We stayed at the Occidental Grand Playa Turquesa from Jan 4-11, 2007. Having just spent a week in Varadero a few months back, this was my 3rd trip to Cuba and although i have travelled much of the country by bus, it was my first time staying in the Holguin area. Our choice was made based upon some mysterious mental algorithym of good price, good hotel reviews, and interesting destination. We knew which week we wanted to travel and we watched prices online at tripcentral.ca selloffvacations and itravel2000 on a regualr basis starting back in October. 1 week out of Calgary was $1500, moved up to about 1700 in November, then dropped about the 7th of december to $1250, after that it went back up to $1900 for the rest of december. We timed our purchase well and ended up paying $1250 each.
The first thing i will comment on is that our trip was booked through Itravel2000, whom i have used a couple of times in the last couple years. Many of their telephone agents are helpful when you have done all the research and are an informed consumer. There are however a few agents there who are somewhat useless and if you get one, politely tell them you will call back another time and hopefully you will get someone else when you redial. The tour provider was Signature Vacations (who is aka Firstchoice) and the charter was a Skyservice 757. This is one of the initial points i want to make, SKYSERVICE sucks when compared to other carriers. The seats have the smallest possible legroom, the arm rest between seats only lifts 80% out of the way, the staff is not the most aesthetically pleasing group, the fleet of planes is older, the little tv's that they play the movies on is inadeqaute, and the food is almost always nuclear burritos. Compared to the Westjet charter that we were on a few months back, it had significantly more legroom, cheerful pleasant staff, video screens in every headrest, payper view available, skyphones available, etc. Due to the fact that the flight is 6.5 hours this becomes a pretty big deal as I couldnt even cross my legs on the skyservice plane and had seen both the inflight movies. Westjet just feels like it is 'first class' compared to Skyservice being 'econo'. Personally, i will most likely avoid all skyservice charters in the future, unless of course the price is substantially better. FYI westjet charters are used by air transat and sometimes signature, the other tour providers are using skyservice, except air canada vacations who is always double the price.
We parked at the 'park and fly' in Calgary. It costs $79 bucks for a week however if you go to their website they have a coupon for free that gives you something like 6 or 7 bucks off. Of course mine is still on the fridge, doh. The 'park and jet' is similarly priced but not quite as convenient. I've used both and they are virtually equal. The drivers are always helpful loading your bags and drive like your the last trip of the day,lol.
The Skyservice flight to Holguin left on time and was fast to board. To their credit, they did offer several passengers more flexibility in the size of their carryon bags. Skyservice did not allow me to bring an extra 10kg humanitarian aid as I had requested, however they do allow you to bring sporting goods ( bikes, scuba, snorkeling, skis, etc) for free and in addition to the luggage limits. Once again, if you get the chance avoid the skyservice charters for the westjet charters, its definitely a value of a couple hundred bucks better. The plane lands in Varadero, offloads everyone, then you sit in the lounge and wait for the plane to be cleaned and refueled. This was a bit of an inconvenience for some who were still winter dressed and this time of year it was already total darkness. After about an hour and a half, its back up in the air for the short flight to Holguin. The holguin airpost is small and efficient. There is a money exchange immediately after you clear the customs immigration and metal detectors. The biggest concern entering Cuba always seems to be that your tourist card is complete and that you look like the picture on your passport. There are tour company reps standing immediately outside the airport doors who direct you to the appropriate bus which drives you to your hotel. The buses are all full sized 'greyhound' style luxury coaches with airconditioning. Unlike the hotel buses in Varadero, the host didnt offer a beverage $ervice, but if you need one as soon as you hit the ground, there are beer vendors right outside the airport. The ride to the hotels is anywhere from 50 minutes - and hour and 10 depending upon which hotel your staying in and the traffic/weather conditions.
Check in was a bit slow as there was only one lady working the front desk at 11pm when we arrived. The smart travellers left their espousa to handle the baggage and quickly went to the check in line first. Once checked in they take you via golf cart to the door of your casa. The resort is sprawling and spacious and some of the rooms are quite far off the beaten track. We had reserved a superior room, however in addition I had sent a request for one of the best rooms and explained that our trip was not only a holiday but that we would also be bringing down charitable aid and donations. The result was that we had the kingsized beachfront superior bungalow, pretty sweet accomodations. This brings me to a quick point, please go read my review on the NOT JUST TOURISTS NJT board which is on the list right above Cuba. Please read that review and direct others to go read it as well before travelling. It will be the highligh of your trip.
The resort itself is near flawless. The size and layout of it could be considered a bit of an inconvenience for those in the distant rooms, but the benefit of it is that even when busy the hotel feels quiet and uncrowded. The grounds are extremely well kept, the buildings are well maintained, and the facilities lacked nothing at all. Our room was great, the maid service was perfect, air conditioning was cold, decent tv to fall asleep to, and it exceeded our expectations. All bars and restaurants had much better food variety and quality then we expected and it was excellent. The only complaint that i heard the entire week was from some canucks whom wished to drink canadian whiskey and didnt have the selection they desired. The service was always fast and friendly, the bartenders entertaining, and not once did any of the hotel staff ever make tipping feel obligatory or did i see any non-tippers receive lesser service. The buffet was great and did have some consistent dishes which appeared regularly, but still enough variety to find something for everyone and always something unique and adventurous available for those wanting to try something new. The ala carte's are only supposed to be available to you 3 times a week, but you are able to go more then that if it is a big deal to you because they consider sunday the end of the week. So we could have went fri/sat/sun and the again the following week mon/tue/wed. Personally, while the ala carts offered a nice dining experience, the buffet food was equally as delicious and offered a more immediate fix for those who leave eating til the point they are hungry.
Tours: we went on a couple of tours. the first is the PARADISE ISLAND tour. This one cost 77$ and they take you 1hr by bus to a port town, then 1hr by catamaran out to an island where you ten get to snorkel for an hour. The boat then docks on the island for lunch and you have the option of going on an additonal 'jeep safari' for $9. The island itself is amazingly beautiful, untouched beaches, tons of big iguanas running around, and lots of imported african game animals abound. If you only go on oune tour, do this one. The jeep safari was worth easily double or triple what they charge. It was like driving across the plains and jungle of africa on a safari and I can't begin to list the exotic animals we saw along the way. Email me and i will send you a picture of me trying to ride a camel, seriously, lol. The snorkeling wasnt the best in all of cuba, but it was a nice sheltered coral reef that was fully alive and full of fish. Once again, i always recommend taking your own 'costco' snorkel gear for $60 that way you always enjoy snorkeling.
we went on a holguin city tour and a train tour. This tour takes you to an old sugar factory and rail yards, lets you ride and old steam train, and then tours around holguin city with about an hour or two of free time. It was a good way to see some of the countryside, some of the history, and a bit of the city. I believe it cost $49 each and was a good full day of sight seeing.
Other things:
on our trip as mentioned previously, we delivered a suitcase of medical aid for NOT JUST TOURISTS. We also delivered a suitcase of art supplies to some artists at the Art University named EL ALBA in Holguin. Then we delivered a couple suitcases of clothes, shoes, money etc to a church in the town of El Maida. I can't stess enough how much fun you will have and the great experience you will get out of doing this sort of thing. The effect on you is so contagious that since we have got home my parents are leaving in a week to do the same and some friends of ours are going in 2 months. Please feel free to ask me any questions or for contact info if you want to do the same.
robertmay@gmail.com
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| Grand Playa Turquesa |
Lucky ~ Canada |
January 2007
Photo link
I spend a week at this resort - October 15-21, 2006 - and it was my first time using Hola Sun as a tour company and flying air Cubana. I had no problems with either, as usual the bus and rep were waiting for us at the airport and then the one hour ride out to the resort. Although, this was the first time I did not hear that our driver was so good that he could do it in 45…LOL
Where to start… check in, although we all arrived at 5 a.m. and there was only one person on the desk, check in went fairly quickly. I would say it was twenty minutes max for all to get rooms keys, not bad since 90% of the bus got off at the resort and then off to the golf cart to be taken to your room.
For those wondering, there are two sections to this resort, Turquesa is the main part and Allgero is a smaller section on the other side of the tennis courts.
The room I had ( 624) had a double closet with two spots to hang clothes, 8 cubbyholes for storage, room safe with numeric key pad, umbrella, iron and ironing board. There was a mini fridge which had 3 bottles of water, two beds and a third single mattress which is decked out to be a sofa of sorts. There were 2 chairs and a writing table. The balcony also had 2 chairs, a small table and one optional bird that every day tried to peck its way into the room thru the window, probably not available for every room though. The bathroom was interesting, as it is the first I have had that was in 3 sections. There was the counter area, and each behind its own door the toilet and shower.
Now that the bags were unpacked and the sun came up, it was time to familiarize myself with the resort and dang I forgot to bring my Sherpa guide, climbing gear and lederhosen. Ok, it isn’t really that bad, but it is the only resort I’ve gone to build on the side of a hill.
The buffet, disco, 24-hour bar-grill, lobby, conveince store, show stage and two other ala cartes are at the top of the hill. The beach, gym, a lunch buffet which becomes an ala carte at night, kids mini club are all at the bottom and the pools are in between.
For the pools we shall start at the top, the first one is the adult’s only pool, quiet pool, but no shade. The next one is a shallow family pool; below this is the sports pool. Down another flight of stairs and we come to the pool bar pool and then 5 steps down is the shallow but large main pool, most of the sun catching around pools happens here. Also, the towel shack is just below this pool on the way to the beach.
The buffet serves breakfast and dinner, lunch can be had the 24-hour bar which you chose from a menu or at the bottom of the hill at the grill. The food at all of them was quite enjoyable and the only reason I didn’t gain weight was the daily stairmaster training.
The beach is quite long and wide, with nice sand. There are paths at either end of the beach, which will take you along the shoreline. Off to the left one can find the stripped down sailboat that is washed up on shore, to the right you will find the inner reef, which is good for snorkeling, the outer reef has to many breakers crashing to make it enjoyable. Although I did not get to the seaward side of this reef to see what it was like. There are the hobbie cats, peddle boat, windsurfers and kayaks down at the beach.
Up at the top of the hill, you can take a bicycle out for two hours every day or rent a scooter or car. With the resort being so close to the countryside, you get to see how people live. I had been to the area before, but this time I took a scooter an hour outside Guardalvaca and got the chance to see a few different things.
The nightly shows were very enjoyable and after each one, a live band would play in the courtyard next to the stage. There was a schedule as to the shows for the week beside the stage and signs at the buffet letting you know what was playing that night. For those with children, there was some on stage fun for the younger ones before each show.
I found the staff to be quite friendly, but then I greet them with a smile, a hello and remember that the words “please and thank you” are more widely used in their culture than in our own. I find that cultural courtesy goes a long way, no matter what country you are in. A few simple phrases in Spanish along with “por favor” after each request and “gracias” after receiving something, will work wonders.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa - Holguin |
Inga ~ London, Ontario |
January 2007
We traveled January 5-12 from Toronto with Air Transat Holidays (a family of 4 with 2 boys 11 and 17). Arrival: on time but very slow at Holguin airport. It took us close to 2 hours to clear all the security checks and get onto the bus.
Arrived at the resort at around 1.30 p.m. after a pleasant 1 hr ride. We truly enjoyed our holiday at this resort. The grounds are absolutely beautiful and kept very clean. The rooms are well equipped, very spacious, with all modern amenities (great hair dryer, make-up mirror in the bathroom, soft towels, washcloths, shampoo and bath gel), a huge umbrella for the rainy days (we had just one of those during our stay), a free electronic safe, lots of hangers and closet space. The maids always did a great job keeping everything very clean. No deposit was required for the beach towels and no wrist bands - great! There are plenty of choices for food and drinks. We mostly ate breakfast and dinner at the Hacienda buffet and lunch at the Bucanero by the beach or if we missed it altogether, we would have something later at a snack bar. The boys enjoyed freshly baked-to-order pizza and ice-cream as well as drinks at the beach hut which is located right on the main beach. Plenty of sun loungers at anytime, friendly, polite staff. The only disappointment were the a la carte restaurants, we booked only 3 but next time I wouldn't waste 45 min standing in line when you have so many more choices at the buffet. We tried Mediterranean, Asian and the Grill (the Grill was the best). You can leaf through the menus while you are waiting in line and it all sounds very nice e.g. "warm salad with seared scallops and goat cheese" but what you are really getting is a canned seafood salad mix with some pickled beets and a couple of slices of mozzarella on the side. For us it was just a minor detail and we stuck with the buffet after that and were quite happy with the choices offered. The beach was not extremely long but beautiful and clean. You would only need the water shoes if you venture outside the enclosed swimming area which was free of seaweed and coral bits. There are several smaller coral reef formations for snorkeling that can be reached without a boat (the water was never deeper than our shoulders) or using a pedal boat or a kayak.
Overall a very enjoyable stay, definitely a 4 star. Would gladly go back at anytime!
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| Grand Playa Turquesa - Holguin |
Josée ~ Québec |
January 2007
I came back Jan. 7 from a week stay at the Grand Playa Turquesa. I travelled with my husband, our 14 year old daugther, brother and sister-in-law and their 2 year old daughter. We were in room 751 and 753, well located.
Rooms: Great, spacious, kept very clean, coffee machine, ironing board, safe, beautiful balcony (with view on trees though) with two rocking chairs, air conditioning never failed, superb bathroom, beds kind of confortable (pillows are huge!). Just one negative point: they are not soundproof at all and our neighbors had a little baby who cried several hours each and every night so thank God I brought ear plugs! People: babies like to be in their own bed and want you to respect THEIR schedule.
Beach: beautiful, but can be crowded at times because spots under the sun can be hard to find because of the several trees. Sometimes, people put their chairs six inches to yours... you know... can I have some space to move a little? Also, there was a group of people with a radio on the beach.
This is not Old Orchard and there is perfectly good Cuban music at the beach. "Lean on me" is not exactly what people want to hear while lying on a Cuban beach. They don't serve Pina Colada at the beach bar, but the pizza and the ice cream are to die for!
Sea: for sea lovers like me, this was a disappointment. You can't see your feet in the water, even when there are 4 inches of water. There is sea grass almost everywhere. For this reason, I will not go back in Holguin, and stick with Varadero and Cayo Largo.
Food: I don't like seafoods and there are some everywhere: mussels in the rice, shrimps in salads... if you are allergic, be very careful! Apart from that, the meat and vegetables were good, with good variety. I was disappointed with the fact that the deserts were way below average for Cuba, and fruits were mainly canned fruits. We tried the Italian restaurant. It was nice to be served, service was excellent, but the portions tiny...
Mosquitoes: they will eat you alive. They do spray at 18h30 each day but I think it just smells terrible. My daughter and I still have marks all over our legs. No matter how much Watkins I would put on us, they attacked us!
What else? Cubans are my favorite people. I just love them. They smile all the time and offer A-1 service everywhere.
Guardalavaca market: don't bother, it takes 15 minutes to see everything and the same stuff can be bought at the hotel.
All in all, the main objective of this vacation was to relax and that's what we did.
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| Grand Playa Turquesa - Holguin |
Ontario, Canada |
January 2007
Dear Debbie.
We stayed at Playa Turquesa in Holguin for a week from December/24 to dec/31 2006.
there were 5 people Mom, Dad , Grandpa, and 2 boys 11 & 14 from Ontario-Canada
Before I start I have to let you know that I've been vacationing in Cuba every year for the last 5 years and we had always enjoyed the Cuban warm hospitality that keeps us coming back. we've been to Melia cocotal, Las sirenas cocotal, palya costa verde, Blau costa verd, and last but not least the fantastic playa Pasquero last year.
Let me start by the positive points in the resort. Playa turquesa is a very beautiful ecologically friendly resort lots of trees plants and flowers. the ground keepers are difinitely doing a good job and they deserve to be tipped.
the resort is big and there is lots of walking and stairs envolved so if you have a problems with stairs it's the wrong resort for you though you can always find a cart to take you where you want still there is plenty of climbing stairs to bare in mind.
the beach has almost white sands though it's for sure not one of the best beaches I've seen in Cuba, It difinitely could benefit from some cleaning since the beach is narrow and the far sides of the beach are not cleaned at all you will find empty plastic bottles, pieces of wood, broken branches, I even found a big washing basin broken to pieces on the left far side of the beach.
the Beach also suffers from sea grass that is not under control at all they clean a part of the beach everyday but it comes back the next and this makes the vacationers only use a small part of the beach (that is cleaned) which makes the beach even narrower. if you look at pictures of the beach on the web site you will notice that it always will only reveal a very small stipp of water that's because if they put a full view of the beach you'll see the dark areas of sea grass that's very close to the sand.
the most crucial problem with the resort in my opinion is the management, you will read this in many reviews. the mangement is the worst I've seen in any cuban resort, we had encountered some problems that we reported to either air transat rep or to the resort manager but all we got was a shrugged shoulder and no apology or even no sorry. afterwards I realised that the general manger of the resort is unfortunately a Canadian lady (I was severely dissapointed).
The food is boringly & repetitive. same thing everyday at the buffet which makes you hate lunchtime and dinnertime but hey it made me spend more time in the sun, you will also see that the left over of rice for lunch will be your rice salad for dinner. but really if you are fruit and cheese lover like me you will not go hungry (I spent the last 4 days eating fruits and cheese for breakfast , lunch & dinner if i'm not booked in a le carte restaurant)
the room cleanliness was avarage, I noticed the cleaning lady only does the beds she didn't replenish the shampoo or the soap for the whole week eccept once when I requested her to leave a bar of soap though the current soap was reduced to the size of a dime. also cleanliness in the buffet was some times an issue because for a family of 5 there wasn't always many tables to choose from and one time we have to eat on a table covered with food stains and when asked the waitress if she will change the table cloth she said they only change the place mats. and in another case in the breakfast buffet there was a bug beside the cheese and the waiter changed the plate of cheese and left the bug. and the staff seen it and did nothing about it. which i found repulsive.
Talking to some of the staff members I gave them my view of what I thought will make the resort better they shocked me by telling me that they know, everyone complains of the poor quality & sameness of food and the uncleanliness of the beach and the sea grass and they had conveyed their concerns to the manager but she never acted on them. this resort could be fantastic if they changed the manager.
In short this hotel under the current management is diffinitely not a 4 star resort. maybe if they get a more caring manger they would, but for now 3 stars is more like it alas the resort is really beautifully landscaped but this will be the only plus there is. would I go there again difinitely not next year we're booked at Playa Pasquero.
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