Reviews of Club Amigo Atlantica Hotel, Holguin

My boyfriend and I returned Feb 13th 2007 from a 2 week stay in the Villas section of the hotel. This is the most modern section and is by far the best. If you are a UK traveler it is worth noting that everyone who booked with Thomas Cook in the UK was booked into a Villa with decent sized, well maintained rooms with either a balcony or a terrace.



Airtours clients were generally housed in the far less appealing main hotel and paid similar amounts of money for their stay. You can book a villa room with Airtours however if you book early enough as we have done just this when booking fro next Feb. This review is based on our own experience and accommodation, as we never entered anything other than a villa.



The most important thing to note if you are thinking of traveling to Cuba is that you are entering a Communist country where the people have very little incentive and very little money. The service levels will never be as good or as efficient as you will experience at home, in Europe or in other Caribbean destinations. This is more than made up for by the charm, character and friendliness of the Cuban people.



The 3 original sections of the complex do look a bit tired but there are improvements taking place all around the hotel. The lobby area was being painted during our stay and new outdoor cooking facilities were being built at both the main pool snack bar and the bungalows snack bar. I doubt that these are isolated repairs and I'm sure improvements will be ongoing.



We spent most of our time in the first week by the Villas pool in the morning (which was the most quiet) and the beach in the afternoon. The beach is shared with the Cuban public which adds to its appeal. We were never approached by locals offering anything for sale or for any other services!



The Cubans we did meet on the beach were great fun and very friendly. We were invited to the house of one particular guy who cooked a good meal of pork, beans and rice for us. We met his family and saw his village up close. It was his wife’s birthday and we were privileged to join in with her birthday celebrations. If you get the opportunity to do something similar then I would urge you to do so.



It is a great experience to see Cuban home life up close. Considering how poor him and his family were they never asked us for anything from us. We did give his wife some pesos for their hospitality and she was close to tears.



During our second week we usually visited the main pool area discovering the delights of the swim up bar, pool volleyball and water polo. Here the entertainments staff were brilliant, the cocktails were good and the sport was great fun, usually consisting of volleyball games between England verses The Rest Of The World!



The evening entertainment was ok if you like Cuban music, we tended to make our own entertainment. The places to be for socialising were the Guardavaca Stage area, the 24 hour bar and the secret (Shhhh!!) bar!



The food was ok, it’s never going to be Michelin 3 star food so don't expect it to be! The A la carte restaurants are hard to book for and look quite empty some of the time. This is no great loss. The 2 times we ate in them we were very disappointed. All 3 buffet restaurants were usually better or worse for different meals. By far the best buffet for dinner was at the Bungalows section and is called the 1720 restaurant.



The food was always hot with a good selection. There is a hotplate chef inside the main part with a second outside on a grill. We always ate there and were never unhappy with it. Breakfast was better at the 24 hour bar but they stop serving at 9.30 where as the others stop breakfast at 10.00. Consequently we missed breakfast at the 24 hour bar often and sometimes missed breakfast altogether! There is a time window of between 10.00 and 11.30 between breakfast and Lunch at 11.30/12.00 where it is difficult to find food anywhere which gives you an incentive to either make breakfast in time or stay a bit longer in bed!



What made our trip was the people we met whilst in the complex and some of the staff who were generally great. We met some fantastic people from the UK and Canada, hopefully some friends for life. There was always a large group of us usually at least 6 but normally a lot more just enjoying ourselves and having a great time, sometimes we were very loud but never (I hope!) offensive. The banter amongst us English with the brilliant Canadian people we met was excellent and has made the trip the best we have ever made!



Our Amigo Hall of fame is as follows



Staff...



Enrique, Barman (Everywhere!)

Luis, Barman (Secret bar, don't tell anyone!)

Raciel, Bermis, Raul (24 hour barmen)

Abel, Barman (Swim up bar)

John Barnes (ex Liverpool and England Midfeilder now playing Bongo's in Cuba!)



Friends...



Team England!

Andy and Lindsey

Bart and Andy

Graham (Curray!!)

Pirate Pete

Chas and Dave

Ashley(!) Ann-Marie and little Gracie

Stick

Stef

Mark



Team Canadiana!

Bill (Doc/Dumpy!) and Carole.

Justin (Leaf boy!) Jaqueline and Bailley

Bill and Ted



Thank you all for an unforgettable time!!

The beach was beautiful, golden sands, lots of sunbeds, free use of kayaks and pedalo boats. Good for snorkeling. The swimming pools were very good also.



However, the main hotel was really shabby and in need of total refurbishment. Our rooms were in the main hotel and didn't have a balcony, the shower was broken and the air-conditioning was a bit temperamental.



However, the place was spotless and the cleaners did a superb job. The bungalows and villas were ok, though.



The daytime entertainment was non-existent and the night time entertainment was hard to find. The highlight of the night was a pianist playing the same repertoire night after night, between 8-9pm!



The food was ok for the first two days - and I am willing to try anything! But it was exactly the same day after day.



The so-called a la carte restaurants were a joke - they provided exactly the same cuisine as the main dining hall, the same cold vegetables (cooked at some stage), rice, fish and chicken.



The waiters and waitresses would not acknowledge you unless you tipped them at every meal. The bar staff (with the exception of the "swim-up pool" staff ) were the same. The drinks were served in plastic cups even though glasses were available. Staff just couldn't be bothered.



I would thoroughly recommend the resort and Cuba- but stay away from the Club Amigo Atlantica!

We have just come back from a 2week stay at the Club Amigo Atlantico. We traveled as a party of 2 adults and 3kidsaged 11, 10and 6.



Our flight was ok but we were unaware of a stop over at Verada airport for 1.5hrs before flying onto Holguin airport which our travel agent didn't mention. We stayed in the older part of the hotel and we stayed in standard rooms which were very clean but very basic. The hotels location for the beach was excellent we were right on the beach that looks like it does in the brochure, gorgeous!



The food was well cooked and there was plenty of it but only being a 3star hotel there wasn't much variety. The kids were able to go and get themselves unlimited drinks and snacks but not unlimited ice cream unless you ate in the restaurant. The 24 hr snack bar is ok if you enjoy burgers, chips, sausages and pizza which was fine for the kids as they didn't enjoy the restaurant food. A visit to the A la Carte Esparda restaurant is worth a visit. We enjoyed our stay with very friendly staff especially "Abel" at the pool bar who makes a fantastic Banana Mama!



We would return as a couple as its a lovely relaxing resort and we weren't hassled in anyway not even on the beach! The children enjoyed themselves but were bored at night as there was nothing for them to do so make sure you take something to entertain them of an evening.



We had a fantastic time, we would return again but would stay in the new bungalows or villas as we were told they were more plusher. 3stars was exactly what you get ,which came as a bit of a shock at first as we usually stay in 4star+ rooms but given that we only slept in the room and the fantastic location, scenery, cleanliness and friendly people we would recommend you give it a go. Make sure you take money for tipping and remember you can't change your money UNTIL YOU GET THERE and you need 25cuban pesos to get out of the country! Excuse the spelling I'm still jet lagged.