20/11/18 It is Cha’s bday! Andres planned to come into the room by midnight to celebrate as per the tradition but I thought we might already be asleep so the casa owners brought her a cake at breakfast instead. As we had to leave that morning, she carried the cake on her legs for 2.5h until we reached our hotel in Varadero.
The hotel is nice, the rooms are little bungalows and it is full of palm trees. As a present for Cha’s bday, the hotel booked us a table at the ‘à la carte’ Cuban restaurant which was delicious.
21/11/18 We spent the day at the kids pool as there were no one there and made a reservation at the Japanese restaurant for dinner. When we went back to the room for a shower we found a few cockroaches and there was no more running water. Reception confirmed the problem was everywhere in the hotel and told us it should be fixed within 2 hours, then by 11pm, so we went to the restaurant with our beachwear, not really classy for the restaurant we booked. As it was Tepanyaki style, we had a chat with other people at our table, 6 of them were from Argentina. An older couple in their 60’s started the conversation with us and the man seemed already drunk and unfriendly. Once we took pictures with the chef at work he seemed a little more comfortable to talk.
In desperate need of a shower we asked for a change of room so they sent us to another block, but by 11.30pm there was still no water. Cha was really pissed (5 star hotel but cockroaches in the room, mold in the parmesan cheese at lunch and no running water anywhere, quite convenient when you need to use the toilet).
We agreed to complain the next day as we want to make sure we can shower before leaving.
22/11/18 Running water is still an issue and Cha is determined to be transferred to another hotel but the customer service lady could not do anything as her manager was unreachable.
It has now been 24h without running water and many customers are complaining. More people are checking in and the personnel seems hopeless. You can imagine how quickly things turn bad without water. Toilets are disgusting, rooms can’t be cleaned, dishes can’t be cleaned, people can’t shower after spending the day at the beach or the pool while covered in sweat and sunscreen.
I asked for an update by 10.30am and the lady said it would be fixed for sure by noon. At 12pm, Cha was back at reception with an angry face and negotiated for a transfer to another hotel, better than ours for the last night. We just wanted to have a clean room and ability to take a shower before catching our planes the next day.
The hotel star standards in Cuba are for sure different from the ones in Europe. Even though we had been warned, I was surprised by the quality of service and I understand why it is recommended to go to casas instead of hotels around here.
The new hotel was a level classier, we noticed already at reception with the welcoming staff. Other customers had also been transferred from our hotel and this one has a nice view on Varadero’s marina.
We had buffet lunch (also better than the previous hotel) and enjoyed the pool for the rest of the afternoon.
23/11/18 Andres picked us up at the new hotel and drove me to the airport first. Cha stayed a bit more in Havana for lunch and a bit of shopping before her late flight at 9pm.
