Gran Caribe Cayo Largo 2011

Cayo Largo, March, 04-11, 2011

I found a $600.00 (txes incl) trip to Gran Caribe, Cayo Largo, and my sister Peggy and I decided to go. The flight was scheduled for a 6:10 departure and we were at the airport and in line by 3:00 am. It was a completely painless check in and we were not overweight. We checked an oversize box with our 2 beach umbrellas at no cost as well as a sports bag. I also checked my carry on and so had only my purse to take on the plane. We booked row 2, A&C and had a very comfortable flight.

Flight left 50 minutes late but it was only a 3 hour flight. We arrived at 9:55 am and were on the bus at 10:45 am. We were at the resort at 10:55 am. I really liked that.

Check-in:

The front desk was very small and there were only 1 person checking people in but it was not a long process. Very little English spoken, or understood by the front desk staff. No rep at all until the next day, so we were rather at loose ends. The Nolitours rep gave us our directions to the bus at the airport and a card for a orientation meeting the following morning.

Our room was not ready so we had a drink in the lobby bar and met William, the bartender. Ordered a Cuban Cristal beer and discovered it was premium beer and cost 1 CUC. It was 2.50 CUC at the airport. Surprise. Bucanaro is not to my taste so I ordered a lemon Daquari.

Room:

Room was not too far from the main lobby, in the Villa Coral section. Room was very, very basic. No tub and shower was curtained but not much lower than the floor and so t was like a wet room. Small sink with no vanity, counter or shelf. A towel rack and a broken toilet roll holder were the only extras. It was a 2 star. We had many occasions to remind ourselves it was a true 2 star. There was no seating in the room.

We were on the ground level and had a patio off the side with a door that did not close properly and so did not lock. It would not stay closed and so we reported it to the front desk. They did not understand the message and so I walked down and talked with 3 people and eventually explained the issue. By late afternoon we were getting worried that the open door may allow insects into our room, so I called the desk again and suggested they either fix the door or move us to a room with a door that closed. They sent someone who had to put in a new mechanism and we were good to go.

There was a large double closet with lots of hangars and 1 shelf that was so tall I could barely reach it. Peggy couldn’t reach it at all. There were no drawers except in the bedside tables and on the vanity bench. That were very shallow and so we didn’t use them. There was a large wooden luggage bench in front of the patio doors and so I used it for my suitcase with everything that didn’t go on a hangar and Peggy used the bench that was in front of the vanity.

There was a small fridge. There was also a second window, 2 small beds with the thinnest pillows I have ever seen. They were a foot square and thin, thin, thin. I have pictures, Derek will upload later.

We went to ask for more pillows and met some other guests who were doing the same thing. The front desk couldn’t seem to understand the request. After 20 or 30 minutes they seem to get it but the next day we still did not have more pillows. We asked the maid, none of whom spoke any English and so gestures were all we had. Became interesting when we were out of toilet paper.

Resort:

We met some new friends, a mom and daughter and daughter’s 7 year son, and discovered we knew a lot of people back home. It was like old home week in the labour movement.

We found a lot of mosquitos and the flies were everywhere. I have never seen so many flies. Apparently there is a swamp very near our area. We did not feel the need to check it out as I am not fond of swamps, especially those with supposed alligators. The woman who lives in the swamp told our friends the swamp was our water source. Could explain the intestinal difficulties that both Peggy and I suffered all week. We did not drink the water but we had no way of knowing what the food was washed in. We got fresh water each day from the bartender but had to pay him. The 1st day the maid brought us a bottle but neither the bar nor the restaurant was able to fill it for us. They did not have taps or hoses. The bar used bottled water and the buffet filled up the container in the buffet from bottles as well. This was not the case in the other bars but we were not able to access them.

The beach:

The beach in front of the Villa Coral was very rocky with soft white sand when the tide was out. It was not a comfortable beach. There were palapas but they were the A shaped ones and so fit only one beach chair. That was directly in front of our small section. Other areas of the beach had regular as well as A frames palapas. Other area had wider areas with more sand but all areas were very rocky.

The Food:

Food was very basic, with limited choices and unfortunately, open to and covered with flies. I have never seen so many flies at a resort. It was quite off putting.

Food consisted of plain white rice, not kept heated and often mystery meat. We did have some good roast beef and very tasty fish. One night they had a roast of pork, one night a turkey. No fries and I don’t recall potatoes. Fresh fruit appeared occasionally but was limited and not always fresh. For several days the only bread, including for breakfast was dinner rolls. Deserts were the traditional excellent beautiful cakes and pies and pastries. Neither Peggy or I are desert eaters but everyone seemed to enjoy them. They did get bread for a few days but it was limited to soft white bread. I was quite disappointed. They did have a toaster so we could toast whatever was there. The chef did eggs in the am and the hard-boiled eggs were both hot and cooked. Ice cream was good. 1 flavor per day.

The staff in the buffet spoke very little English. Each time I tried to speak Spanish to them they corrected my pronunciation. Kinda makes you wonder. It was very difficult to request anything. It has been so very long since English was an issue in our travels to Cuba. They were all fluent in Italian, mind you. We discovered there were very few non Italians at the resort . Coffee and tea was available in the buffet in the morning but the machines were covered up and unplugged for lunch and dinner. You had to leave the buffet and go to outside and around the pool and down the steps to the bar and get a coffee there. No tea. The wine, 1 red, 1 white was soooooo bad, I was unable to drink it at all. Our friends said the red was tolerable but only just. The staff ate at this buffet.

More on the resort / Bars:

So, that was the buffet. The pool, the lounge area, and a small area with 8 tables overlooking the lounge and the pool made up the entire rest of the area we were allowed to be. We were given red bracelets that we soon discovered meant we couldn’t go anywhere else in the resort, use any other bars or pizza bars. We soon decided not to keep them on. Our only bar was the swim up pool bar and pictures will show the difficulty in that. Above the bar was a very small sitting area with another 8 tables with plastic chairs. That was the entire scope of the section we were privy to. We did not know this on day 1. We had not had orientation yet. We did not know there were snacks available between the buffet times. Since the buffet did not open till 7:30, yes, 7:30 pm for dinner we were hungry about 5:00pm and went looking for the 24 hour snack bar. Someone mentioned there was a pizza bar over near the lobby and so off we went. We went up to the bar and ordered a beer and a pizza. There was a staff person waiting for a pizza and she asked if we were wearing red bracelets, DUH, she could see them as well as we could. We politely answered yes, and she then informed us that we were not allowed in the area, nor were we allowed to use the bar or order food. When we explained we were hungry and missed the snack time at our area she allowed us to have a pizza and the bartender waited until she left and offered us beer. She introduced herself as Public Relations. She really kept an eye on us after that. She ate at our buffet and I was tempted to ask to see her red bracelet. There were about 6 tables that the staff used, even when it was really busy. The staff appear to work 12 hour shifts for 20 days and than go home to the mainland by boat for 10 days.

Our new friends had their orientation on Friday and mentioned there was an artist going to be showing his wooden jewelry that night and then he would be leaving the island for home. It was the last chance to see the merchandise. They asked us to go with them. They were not really clear exactly where it was but was sure the taxi driver would know. You have to order a taxi at the front desk. We did so and along came a very big bus. Their rep had told them the cost was negotiable and so they assumed if there were more of us we could work a deal.

The hours posted for the facilities were as follows:
Aqua Bar---8am to 1am
Snack Bar 11am ---1pm
Pizza Bar (same as above) 3pm -----5pm
Buffet
Breakfast 7:30am –10am
Lunch 1:00pm –2:45
Dinner 7:30pm ---9:45pm

On Sat at noon we had our orientation meeting. She explained the 2 beaches on the peninsula and how to get there. There is a small train (tractor pulling a train), which was free and the times were posted in the lounge. You could also use the bus or taxi. She mentioned it also visited other resorts and you could get off and check them out and shop.

Our bar served coffee as I mentioned and rum. Mohitos were available but none of the fancy drinks. Water, cola, beer, rum.

Massage was available in the medical center, which was in the same building as we were in. $25.00 for a full massage for 1 hour. Prices I have not seen for a long time.

The ocean was also very rocky and so we stuck to the pool which was very deep. I could walk across it on my tip toes only and so my noodle was very handy. Peggy brought her floater and spent a lot of quality time on it.

We did take the train to Playa Sirenas. It was a very crowded bumpy ride and took 45 min and then we were told the last train back was in 2 hours. Sand was beautiful and deep. Very hard walking. We brought our own umbrellas and so didn’t worry there were no palapas left. No chairs empty either. Very wide large beach and beautiful water. There was a very large full service restaurant with stalls for shopping as well. But we found we needed to get home quickly (travelers disease), and managed to get a taxi back. We didn’t leave after that except for a few walks down the beach.

Funny things happened at the snack bar. We ordered French fries and were told no. I mentioned I saw fries and with a limited English/Spanish discussion it turned out you could order hot dog or a hamburger and fries but not fries. So I ordered a hamburger and fries and Peggy ordered a hot dog and fries. Unable to eat hamburger or hot dog but ate the fries. Next time same situation. Must order hot dog to get fries and so 4 of us ordered hot dogs and fries and ate the fries. You could order pizza in the afternoon but not fries. However, The 7 year old with us could order both and also fries whenever he wanted. On day 3 they finally conceded they may as well just bring us fries. They even allowed us to order 2 plates if we wanted. On days when we didn’t find anything at the buffet it was very important to get our fries. We ate at every opportunity. No weight gain at all.

TV, 2 english channels.

We did go to the Sol on the last day and were impressed. Very rocky but great beach and pool grills and a beautiful resort. Would consider returning to that resort. There were gazebos close to the water and they did utilize any flat rock area with chairs and palapas. We got a real beer in a real beer glass. It was nice. They served us without a qualm.

The weather was perfect and we got a lot of wonderful sun and rest and relaxation. We experienced a wonderful raging wind and rain storm the night before we left and thankfully we were in the (forbidden) lobby bar and enjoyed the view of both sides of the storm The ocean was fabulous and black.

We took a cab to the airport in the morning and were 2nd in line and got great seats again and the VIP lounge was closed. Peggy was not well on the way home and the “in charge” with CAN Jet took very good care of us.

Derek picked us up at the airport and we had a great drive home.