Cuba - Special Shout-Outs

I want to use this blog post to send out a few shout-outs to those who have made my vacation in Cuba an enjoyable one. First, I would like to thank the resort staff of the RIU Varadero for making our stay at the resort as comfortable as possible. You men and women are a special bunch. Now onto my particular shout-outs...

Special thanks to our maid that cleaned our hotel room and bathroom every day. There are not too many people in this world who can do the job that you did. I hope you enjoy the hat we gave you, as well as all the other stuff too.

Special thanks to our Havana tour guide, who was very knowledgeable about Cuba and the City of Havana. I learned a lot from you about daily life in Cuba and the Cuban government. Also, the places you took us in Havana were really cool. For a history buff like me, being in Havana was an unforgettable experience.

Special thanks to our Varadero cab drivers who showed us around the town of Varadero and took us to the various shops in the town. I hope the lunch you had with us at the restaurant was good for you as it was for me.

Shout-out to the pianist at the piano bar, who played a song I requested, and it was beautiful. That song was "Hello" by Lionel Ritchie.

Shout-out to Waldo, the bartender at the lobby bar. Fun guy to be around, that's for sure.

Shout-out to Adrian, the bartender at the disco, who I'm convinced the only reason why this guy is around is to get me drunk. Haha, I'm kidding. You were top-notch. You also got some nice bartending skills.

Shout-out to the Welsh boys and the sexy British girls we hung out with at the disco, you guys were awesome.

Shout-out to the people we met from Brampton, y'all were fun to hang out with as well, and one of you guys is a Customs officer, who we ran into in Customs while coming back to Canada!

And finally, big shout-out to the people we met from Markham. We all gotta hang out again, that's for sure. Good times at the disco.

That's all I can remember...

Hotel RIU Varadero Review - Part 2

Beach

I was pleasantly surprised at how clean the beach was. There are enough beach chairs and huts for everyone, and the water was a healthy bluish color. There was also a bar nearby do you can do some drinking right by the ocean. The beach was a little bit narrow from the ocean to the bushes, but that is a minor gripe. The beach was very nice.

Rating 7/10

Pools

There’s the main pool, which is the busier of the pools. There are always different shows going on and live music will play at the pool sometimes. There is also a swim-up bar to get your drinks. It can get really busy at the main pool and the swim-up bar sometimes, and if it gets to be a bit too much for you, you can go to the relaxation pool. Always less people than the main pool and offers a very tranquil atmosphere. It also has a swim-up bar and a waterfall. I spent most of my time in the relaxation pool. It is one of my favorite spots of the entire resort. There was also the Royal Section pool, but we didn’t go to that. Overall, the pools were pretty good.

Rating: 7.5/10

Theater Shows

I went to see most of the theater shows while at the resort, and I found myself bored at the majority of the shows. There were a couple shows where I walked out before the show had even finished. Seriously, the only show that was any good was the Michael Jackson show, so if there is only one show you should go see in the theater, make it that one. As for the other shows, they can be a bit better, and less boring.

Rating: 4.5/10

Disco

After the show ended, the disco would open for dancing. The place itself is pretty okay, maybe a little bit small, but still okay. There were some nights where a lot of people were at the disco, and other nights where there wasn’t as many people. The absolute worst thing about the disco was the DJ. The DJ played mostly latin music, mixed in with today’s popular club jams, which was fine. But the music he played couldn’t get people on the dance floor at all. Thankfully, the DJ was open to requests, so I requested some real dancing music, and all was good. Oh, and did I mention he played the exact same song twice, one before the other? Yeah, pretty crazy.

Rating: 5/10

Internet

You can purchase internet cards, 5 pesos for ½ hour, 10 pesos for 1 hour. The internet isn’t fast at all, but it wasn’t terribly slow either. Also, one of the PCs wasn’t working, which left only two working PCs. If you’re not stingy about hi-speed internet, then the internet in the resort shouldn’t give you much trouble.

Rating: 5/10

Games Room

The games room offers billiards, ping pong, and various board games. The ping pong paddles were half broken and the pool table only had one cue stick, which was cracked at the tip. The games room is pretty garbage, but at least it is something.

Rating: 3/10

Lobby Bar/Piano Bar

The lobby bar is the main bar in the resort, where people can come relax and have a drink. The lobby bar can get really busy at times, especially in the evening. The chairs to sit in were pretty uncomfortable, as well. The piano bar always had someone playing in the evening time, but the pianist always plays the same 2-3 songs. The most common song on the piano is “Someone Like You” by Adele. I must have heard that song at least 15 times during my stay. Overall, the lobby bar is a decent spot to chill at.

Rating: 5.5/10

Final Verdict

The newly-opened RIU Varadero has some nice pools, a relaxing beach, and decent rooms, but the terrible food was the deal-breaker. I would not come back to this hotel, and if I were to come back to Cuba, I would look elsewhere. If you have a strong stomach and food is not an issue for you, then take a chance on this resort. But for everyone else, see if you can find something better. I also add that this all-inclusive resort was a bit on the cheap side, and the saying of “you get what you pay for” rings true here. If you can spend more money on a better all-inclusive resort, then don’t hesitate to do it. RIU claims that this hotel is a Cuban 5-star resort. I disagree; this was probably 3 and ½ stars, maybe 4 stars at best.

Final Rating: 5.5/10

Hotel RIU Varadero Review - Part 1

We stayed at the Riu Varadero from July 19 to July 26. This was one of the newer-built hotels in Varadero, and it shows. All the buildings were very clean and well taken care of. The hotel staff was very friendly, and they would always greet you every time they pass you by. Check-in was very quick and one of the hotel staff took our luggage to the room. We stayed in Building 24, which was very close to the beach.

Room

The room was very clean and well-kept. The double-sized beds we had were comfortable, but there was another small mattress in the room that felt like you were sleeping on a rock. I slept on that mattress one night, and it was honestly one of the worst nights of sleep I ever had. There was something wrong with the TV, in which the colors was all messed up and couldn’t be fixed, but that was only a minor inconvenience. The mini-fridge was pretty cool, which came stoked with water, soft drinks, and beer. It was replenished every other day. The balcony was also very nice. Other than that, the room was pretty standard. The maids came by every day and did a great job in cleaning the room.

Rating: 7/10

Bathroom

Once again, pretty standard. A major problem is that there is a very high step to go in the bathtub, so young children, the elderly, or others who need assistance may find it difficult to step into the bathtub. Be sure to ask one of the hotel maids for some sort of step ladder if problems arise.

Rating: 6/10

Towels

From reading previous reviews of this hotel, there were many people who had issues with exchanging towels, so I brought my own. There were already beach towels in the room, so I used those first before I used my own. Indeed, exchanging those hotel-issued towels was a pain. The towel desk had inconsistent hours, and they always ran out of clean towels. This is something that needs to be fixed.

Food

Please note that I am a vegetarian. My review of the food may not reflect on those who are not vegetarians.

The main buffet restaurant has a wide selection of food for everyone, including pizza, pasta, stir-fry, and more. For breakfast, there’s an omelette bar for people to enjoy. Honestly, the food was not very good at all. You tend to say that when the food you eat in the resort has you running for the bathroom.

The snack bar by the main pool has your typical fast-food grub, such as hamburgers, hotdogs, and French fries. They also have a mini-buffet. The food here is slightly better than the buffet food, but not by much.

The worst (for vegetarians) is the a la carte restaurants. I went to the Creole and Oriental restaurants and they didn’t offer any vegetarian options. The Creole restaurant offered me a spaghetti (which was horrible), and I walked out of the Oriental restaurant. For a so-called Cuban 5-star resort, Riu really needs to offer vegetarian options for their a la carte restaurants. Absolutely ridiculous.

Overall, the food was pretty bad, almost terrible and inedible. Also, the food is left open, so that brings in bugs and insects toward the food. In the snack bar, I’ve seen birds fly to the open buffet food and pick at it. That is very unhygienic, if I do say so myself. My stomach was killing me at the end of the vacation.

Rating: 1/10 (seriously, it is that bad)

If you have the opportunity to eat outside the resort, please do so. I recommend the Salsa Suarez in Varadero town. Tell them Randy sent you.

Gift Shop/Vendors

The gift shop and the various vendors outside it sell various souvenirs and other products. They are a bit expensive though, so I suggest taking a taxi to the town of Varadero, where there is a lot more choice on what souvenirs to buy, and at a cheaper price.

Part 2 will come tomorrow, where I will talk about the beach, the pools, the entertainment, and give my final verdict.

What's good?

Hey, been a while since I wrote a proper post on here. Just letting you all know that I'm gonna be putting up some new stuff in the coming weeks, after I come back from Cuba. I leave tomorrow, and I am coming back on the following Friday (July 27).

Watch this blog, and I'll be back soon.

Random Thoughts 8: The “Facebook-Related Grievances” Edition

It has been a while since I did a blog entry, let alone a Random Thoughts blog. Well I am back, and madder than ever, so let’s get it. This blog is about stuff I have encountered on Facebook recently.

I have tried to get rid of my Facebook account on two separate occasions this year, but I couldn’t even last a week both times. It is pretty sad that Facebook has that kind of pull on my life, but Facebook is the only way that I can keep in contact with my extended family in other countries. Anyways, let’s get to the real gripes.

I have a few Facebook friends that do nothing but post things like inspirational quotes and messages. Now it is okay to do this once in a while, but doing this all the time is just really annoying, like those few of my Facebook friends. It comes off as a bit elitist, and that you are basically telling everyone “I’m better than you because I post these quotes and follow them and that you should follow them too”. You don’t even know if that person is actually following those quotes that they keep putting up. Nobody gives a shit about your inspirational quotes.

Next thing, and let me paint the scene for you. A girl is uploading pictures of her drunken night out with her girlfriends. You look at her pictures, typical loose women holding alcoholic drinks making drunken poses for the camera, and then, you see a picture of a certain pose that you can’t really understand. Why is it that girls have that picture of a girl kissing another girl on the cheek? For the life of me, I can never understand why (drunk) girls do this. Are they trying to do their best lesbian impression? It seems like every time someone looks at a girl’s pictures of their night out, there is always that picture of a girl kissing another girl’s cheek. Now I’m not saying this should stop, I just want to know why this always seems to happen. You don’t see a guy kissing another guy on the cheek, unless they were gay. But seriously, I want to know why this happens.

Last thing, on the subject of kissing people on the cheek, a kind of picture that pisses me off is where the guy gets one or two women to kiss him on the cheek. If you are a guy who has to get pictures of yourself with women kissing you to make yourself look like some sort of “ladies man”, then you are a fucking douche, plain and simple. The guys who have to get pictures like that are basically trying to cover up their own insecurities. They are scared guys, if you think about it. I’m not being bitter about it, but it is a fact. These are the kind of guys who deserve to have their face burned by napalm, yeah let’s see what girls would kiss you now.

Well, there are some thoughts out of my system, if you want more of the same, follow me on Twitter @Randy_Narine. Bye for now…