Hi,

Me and the Mrs are off to Cuba soon (Varadero) I notice the journey is Via Holguin, what happens do we stay on the plane and pick up passengers or do we disembark for a few hours, anyone know what the purpose of this stop in Holguin is for?

Also is there any decent snorkling to be had from the Iberostar Varadero beach.
We are also thinking of a trip to Havana but dont want an overnight trip, any recommendations on getting there, organise ahotel excursion, or get a bus or taxi maybe?

Would much appreciate any help

Regards

Steve

currymonster,

The purpose of the stop in Holguin is to drop off / pick up passengers as the flight serves both Holguin and Varadero. I presume you are on TCX174K/L? When I did that flight a few years ago it was CCC/HOG then, but I would assume the same proceedure will be in place. This is what I'd anticipate. The outbound flight stops in HOG and the aircraft disembarked. Passengers staying in the Holguin area go to their hotels while the onward passengers spend about 1.5hrs in the departure lounge. The aircraft is prepared for the onward flight to VAR / return home. All passengers embark the aircraft for the short hop up to VRA where those stopping in VRA get off and those returning home get on. You won't be allowed off the aircraft since it'll be a quick changover, 45 mins or so. Thats roughly what used to happen so I'd assume your flight will be similar.

As for snorkelling, it isn't very good in the Varadero area. Habitat wise, there isn't any since the sea bed is just sand as far as you can swim. There isn't anything to see apart from sand! The diving isn't too bad, some interesting Russian wrecks but there isn't much marine life around that part of Cuba. We went to Havana with a tour. They're all run by Cubanacan and vary depending on what you want. Its about 2 hours on a coach from VRA - Havana. It's well worth it. You set off at something like 8am so you're in Havanana mid morning. You tour the city on foot looking at the old and new parts of the city, all the main sites. If you choose the Tropicana show, you'll spend a couple of hours in a hotel from about 5pm until 8pm then on to the Tropicana for the show. You get back in the early hours. It's a long day, but well worth it.

You might find this thread useful. Cuba is a fantastic country. I've been to Guardalavaca and Varadero, both are excellent.

Darren

Cheers Darren, advice will be useful, just like the superb advice you give me on Planemad forum.

Cheers
Keep snappin guduns

Steve

Hi
This is the first time travelling to cuba & my wife was asking the question regarding topless sunbathing. Any info to save any embarassing situations would be gratefully recieved.

thanks

As far as I am aware it is not permitted.

You won't see women going topless on public beaches, especially those frequented by the locals though you will see young women very skimpily clothed. Around the hotel pools it can vary and you're probably best taking your cue from what others are doing. It won't necessarily be a problem if she's discreet about it - eg puts her top back on for swimming or when walking around - but I've seen tourists sunbathing topless around hotel pools even if they have always been in the minority.

One thing to bear in mind is that it is common practice for Cuban men to pass compliments to women. Women walking down any street will do so to a constant soundtrack of complimentary remarks - 'piripos' - from any men sitting outside. It's completely non-threatening and indiscriminate in that age or size is no barrier to being complimented on the swing of your hips or the clearness of your skin! It's one of the reasons that Cuban women are so self-confident, from an early age they're used to being constantly told how beautiful they are. It's completely harmless and non-threatening but 'displaying your wares' can and will attract admiring glances and smiles and I suspect that this is why many tourists feel uncomfortable about going topless and so don't but if you dress (or 'undress' :-) ) in a way which draws attention to a particular part of your body then it is assumed that you want to draw attention to it and hence that you will be happy to be complimented or at the very least be the recipient of admiring glances.

I don't stay in the big tourist hotels and hotel resorts but would expect that staff there are more aware of the cultural differences and few locals manage to penetrate security to get into them so the 'piropos' culture will be very much toned down but it is always worth remembering that Cuban men and women feel free to pass comment (always positive) on each others appearance and indeed expect it. An evening out tends to start with everybody engaging in quite a bit of mutual admiration saying how good everybody looks! A paunch on a man in is much admired in Cuba - it's a sign of being able to live well - and a male friend was quite disconcerted to find how often people, even the museum attendant, felt free to stroke his and comment admiringly on it!

SM

Hi all four weeks and counting till will fly out to the PRDO, and we cant wait.

Got some questions, so thanks in advance.

1 - We fly out 3 June - any one have an idea of what the weather will be like.

2 - We both love the sun, and dont burn to easily, any ideas about the strength of the sun and what factors to take (used P20 last year in Maldives it was great).

3 - Anyone have any updates on the diving in PRDO?

4 - If you've been to the PRDO, can anyone give us an idea on prices for excursions?

5 - flying from Gatwick, anyone know which terminal it will be?

Thanks

Hi

Make sure you take plenty of Mozzie spray and anti histamine tablets,the
mozzies are rife in June. The Temp when we were there last year in June was around 30 - 35dgs.One to watch out for on the excursions are the jeep safaris,two people injured when we were there,it turned out that a 16year old boy was driving.

Go and enjoy, we had a graet time the people are great.

Daveyboy.

last time we went, we had some really good mozzie stuff in boots. It was own brand but had a high 'Deet' content, and that seems to be the stuff that scares them off

ozza,

3 - Anyone have any updates on the diving in PRDO?

Have a look at my post about diving on page 2 of this thread. Any further questions, fire away.

Darren

We are three adults wanting to go to Cuba.We would want a seperate double room as the third adult is a friend.Failing that two rooms next door to each other.We normaly go in a two roomed apartment but they do not seem to cater for that.Single room supliment would of cause put the price up a lot and we want to avoid that if possible. Any ideas? We have not been to Cuba before.Could you tell us which is the best resort to go to? Thanks.

Sorry I forgot to say we wanted to go in late Feb2008 is that a good time to go ?Storms and things

I went there on Feb 28th this year, we had a few spots of rain one evening and a shower in Havana, the rest of the two weeks were hot and sunny.

Late February is probably a good time to go because it will be hot and sunny but NOT (edit for typo!) too humid over most of the Island. I have been in early March and found it ideal but bear in mind that the northern coast and particularly around Havana will be cooler than the south and particularly the south-east. There can be as much as a 10C tempreature difference between Santiago and Havana for example. In fact my Spanish teacher in Santiago remarked that in winter it can get really cold in Havana when the temperature could drop as low as 22C. She was convinced that I had misunderstood her when I tried to reply in Spanish and tell her that the in Scotland in the Summer it sometimes got as hot as 22C :-)

As for the room problem your best bet might be to find a hotel that does family suites but self-catering is generally not an option except in some of the Casa Particulares but the tourist industry and provision in Cuba is very hotel-based. One way or another I think that unless you are willing to share a 3-bedded room then it is going to cost you more per head than if there were just 3 of you. No single supplement deals are very rare as far as I can see but the supplements can be surprisingly cheaper than some European destinations because a major part of the cost is the flight and that of course remains constant per passenger.

SM

Paul Johnson said:
"We are three adults wanting to go to Cuba.We would want a seperate double room as the third adult is a friend.Failing that two rooms next door to each other.We normaly go in a two roomed apartment but they do not seem to cater for that.Single room supliment would of cause put the price up a lot and we want to avoid that if possible. Any ideas? We have not been to Cuba before.Could you tell us which is the best resort to go to?"

You may want to check the best resort in Holguin, Cuba: The Paradisus Rio de Oro.
I believe that it has no single supplement!

Reviews HERE

Pippy

just back from 2 weeks in hotel club grancaibe puntarena lovely time but the little mozzies were a pest tried all sorts but they just seemed to munch everyone the only folks that didnt seem to get attacked were the folks that didnt use anything even 100 deet wasnt any good

I know there is a lot of restrictions on laptops/dvd players etc. when travelling to cuba but does anyone know about mobile phones? And if they work and if so is it very expensive to call the uk??

mellymel,

You'll have no problem with a mobile phone. You'd have to contact to network supplier regarding cost, it varies depending on your tarif. For short calls, using your it may work out just as cheap, maybe cheaper as using a land line in hotels. From memory, it was something like $8US when I called home.

Darren