Brisas Del Caribe Hotel

BRISES DEL CARIBE - REPORT
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I recently took a vacation to Cuba (Jan 14-21, 2006) and stayed at the Varadero resort for La Brisas Del Caribe. Please keep in mind this is my first vacation to Cuba, but I did talk with many people while there and got their opinions in this all as well. I went with 3 others, and these comments are a sort of-of compilation of what we spoke about all week. So in order to assist other travellers, I tried to be as factual and unbiased as I could… fair… and give you a report from looking at both the positives, and the negatives.
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The Brisas Del Caribe was stated to me to be a resort anywhere from 9-14 year old. Many people rated it as an `average’ level resort. It is classed as a 4-star resort, but appears maybe it may not be quite a 4-star resort any more – due to the wear and tear we experienced.
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The resort has two main sections to it – a main lodge building housing a main receiving lobby / lounge area/ kitchen buffet / and rooms, and an area of buildings (hotel rooms / residences) located closer to the highway which are newer in age (6 years old) .
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The main building of the resort is typical Cuban in nature, having larger open areas, plants, sculptures, paintings and a lot of pink and green vibrant painting. The main lobby area is nice having two bars on either side, two boutiques, and is generally found to be the main meeting area for patrons in the evenings.
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There are a number of other buildings spread across the Brisas property, including a gift shop, a snack bar, a disco/restaurant, an entertainment facility, two pools, a poolside bar, a fitness centre, and a grill facility. Pools were small to medium sized and were generally kept up well. There is also a bank in the main building and two souvenir shops.
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NEGATIVES
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General upkeep - Upon arriving at the Brisas, one begins to notice that the facility has seen better days. Not all areas are hurting – but some show some real wear and tear… guess the salt mist from the ocean wears things out fast down there. Many of the travel agents I spoke with AFTER getting there told me the Brisas had seen better days, and slowly had been allowed to get run down. One agent told me they let it get to a low point, and have been actively trying to improve on things to get the business back, since they lost so much before. The things I saw that really showed the place was run down was a lot of rotted wood at the base of door mouldings, both at the entrances to the rooms, and within the rooms themselves, such as bathrooms. There was also a lot of siding and pot lights that seem to have been pulled out or dislodged… probably as a result of high winds or a hurricane. And a lot of broken walkway tiles. But in all fairness, they seemed to be trying to get things fixed up…
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Rooms - The rooms in the newer sections were much less run down than the ones in the main building, but all rooms I went in (4 or 5) in both buildings / areas exhibited a degree of mouldiness. So if you have mould sensitivities, do not go to this resort. The mould appears to attribute to the A/C units, as it appears they do not seem to be getting serviced / cleaned on a regular basis. We managed to keep the mould down by opening all doors and airing the place out quite abit – which was very easy to do. (I visited to the Melia Varadero (5 star) and the Blau Varadero (4+ star) and their rooms did not appear to have the same mouldy smell as the Brisas did – although these two other resorts are a lot per night $$$ - and the Blau is only 3 months old. These two other resorts are a lot different than the Brisas – they are more like a North American major hotel chain type of resort with a major main building and a few outbuildings… so not the classic Cuban culturist type of facility. Huge internal lobbies, with brass elevators and rooms circling the main lobby.)
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The main building rooms and hallways show more wear and tear during the daytime. The main building had an odd smell to it when we arrived, but open hallways and high winds soon remedied that. The rooms in the newer buildings seemed ok other than the rot at the base of the outside entrance doors, and the internal mouldy AC units. We stayed in the newer units and there was always lots of hot water for our showers. The access locks sometimes wouldn’t let us into our room without considerable efforts, and the bathroom once locked me in as the door wouldn’t open properly.
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Bank - The bank does not accept US money and US based credit cards for cash advances, so if you go, take Canadian Cash or use a Canadian based Visa to get cash advances on. Cash exchange rates on a Visa advance were $112 US for $100 convertible Pesos.
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Food - Buffet - The buffet food was ok to me, and they had a good variety, but my companions didn’t think it was the best… although food everywhere in Cuba is reportedly bland. My biggest complaint was the runny scrambled eggs and soft yellowy bacon… they were sort of gross…but other than that everything else seemed ok to me. I particularly liked their pastries and such. I wasn’t too happy though that bottled water was not provided in the rooms, and that a 1.5 L container of water cost 3 pesos (like $3-4 Canadian).
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Disco – the disco was ok but the guy who runs the music really should learn how to mix a song, and then when the night ends, call `Last call’ and not just end a song midstream. On three separate occasions, they didn’t call last call, and when 1 AM hit they abruptly turned on lights and turned off music mid stream. Brutal. But the facility was pretty good for dancing with lights, strobes, and a good sized area for dancing. I have danced at a number of places and this wasn’t too bad… it was also used as one of the a-la carte restaurants
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POSITIVES
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Rooms – the rooms in the newer building were kept clean by staff and our beds were made each day and the maids even left us the odd sculptures and messages for us on our beds by using the towels. (We left a lot of tips and goodies for the staff though). The showers were kept clean and the newer building facilities seemed pretty up-to-date…. We even had working safes, although small. The toilets had toilet seats… something we found some places in Cuba did not have – including one expensive restaurant on the Havana tour. The rooms even had bidets… and as for showers, we never ran out of hot water. Rooms are all tiled – no carpeting.
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Staff - the staff were very nice to us – all throughout the resort. Cleaning staff, grounds staff, bar staff and reception – all were very nice and we got a friendly `Ola’ wherever we went… so absolutely no complaints there. The reception staff were very accommodating and helpful.
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A-La carte restaurants – they were ok – the Fantasia and the Italian joint seemed to be the better ones, rather than the Caleta grill (beach grill joint).
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Bars – there was a bar wherever we went – pool sides, snack bar, in the main lodge area, near the beach at the grill… so no problem finding a drink and beverages. And the local drink known as a `Brisas’ was good as well.
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Main lobby / lounge area – this was great – we met so many people in there at night, and it was open concept between two bars and not far from the buffet restaurant. We had a lot of fun in there and met a lot of people.
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Beaches – these were great to me as well – they were part of the main beach along in front of all the resorts, and you could easily walk through and meet people from the other resorts. There were both topless and clothed people on the beach, which made for a wide diversity to look at and meet. The sand wasn’t really white, but was good and not grainy. We saw the odd jellyfish, but only dead ones (3) on the beach. The umbrellas were good, and the chairs plentiful. They even had some guys down there opening coconuts for people to get a drink from… and the beachside grill was ok… just served the standard hotdogs and hamburgers. And had a bar…
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Food – it was ok – it was often hot and there was a good variety of things to choose from. We drank the resort water, OJ and ate their washed salads and such, and did not get sick – so a major plus there. My companions complained about the food (I am not so picky) and they liked the a-la carte restaurants a lot more… but you only get three a-la carte meals. The waitresses at the buffet restaurant were very nice and were always quick to ask us and serve us… so no complaints there. The snack bar didn’t have the best service the first night, but was pretty good the other three times we ate there.
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Grounds – the grounds were well maintained and it was nice to have a resort with so many buildings spread over such a wide area. The trees and hedges and grass were well pruned, but the walkways often seemed abit hurting (broken tiles, missing pieces, etc). Overall I liked the grounds and the groundskeepers were also very friendly.
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Nightly entertainment - Although the entertainment area was somewhat cheesy, the activities they presented were pretty good and the entertainers were not only very entertaining, but pretty good looking. We had fun – and that was the main thing. The aqua-show was really good too.
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Clientele makeup - there was a lot of different people there of different age ranges. A lot were families and couples, and not too many singles that I could really see (we were all singles). It was a diverse range of people, from a variety of countries… kids and older folks. So that made it good for meeting and socializing, both in the main lobby, and down on the beach!
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OTHER TIPS
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- When you get there, try to book you’re a-la carte dinners and your outdoor events right away; they tend to fill up with others fairly quickly.
- Don’t pose with (what) call) the `Chiquita-banana’ girls in the square at Havana – brightly clad women with the large vibrant head-dresses - they will DEMAND 5 pesos and make a scene if you don’t pay up.
- Don’t let the guys at the airport carry your bags for you if you are not prepared to tip them
- The bank in Varadero is the only place they will change over US dollars, not the resort
- The main pool area seats fill up quickly so get a seat around the main pool before too late
- The jet skis day trip lockup area for your valuables is not secure, so don’t bring anything valuable with you if you go jet-skiing (and it’s not a real Jet Ski – but a Jet Ski chassis with a 25 HP Yamaha attached…)
- Take a lot of smaller things with you – the local poor people like things like pens, pencils, lighters, razors, chocolate, soap bars, hats, sunglasses, toothbrushes and toothpaste. They really liked this stuff. And this costs a lot to them.
- Most resort staff make like only 15 convertible pesos a month… so that’s like $15 US a month… it doesn’t go far… so try to tip them when you can
- Bring stuff for colds – cough drops, Neo Citron, Q-Tips, antihistamines, etc. There are not a lot of pharmacies and such to get this at.
- Bring lots of sun block.
- Watch for jelly-fish on the beach – they can really sting and hurt you – even dead.
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SUMMARY
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Overall, I enjoyed my stay, but the mouldy rooms really bothered me when I first got there. This could easily be alleviated by cleaning and disinfecting the AC units. Presentation and first impression are everything, and when I got there, I noticed the rotted door frames (installed tiles outside the doors were found to slope towards the building, rather than away… hence water collects up near the buildings I would suspect), the mouldy smelling rooms, and the dislodged / hanging pot lights and siding – especially on what was supposed to be the newer part of the facility.
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As well, the older part of the facility had a weird smell to it that we all noticed right away, and the hallways painting seemed to be rather stained and patchy… not a good first impression. But it did air out by the end of the vacation.
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Would I go back to La Brisas Del Caribe – hmm… I really liked the grounds, the people, the character of the place and the activities…. The location wasn’t too bad, but the mouldiness of the rooms really counters all that and due to my mould sensitivities, probably not. My companions didn’t like the food, but I think they just have been spoiled by our North American society and such – one stayed at a resort in Holguin and stated the service and such was much better there… I’ve been told there are some other resorts like this, but there are better ones as well. Some people told me to check out others like the Sandals Resorts (couples oriented) – the Barceló Marina Palace, and like I mentioned the Blau Varadero and the Melia Varadero…
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Good luck!
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Rick