It seems, however, that every year we hear people complaining either online of at the hotel itself. This year I decided I would be more mindful of the "complaints" I heard and try to figure out why we have never had a problem and always choose to go back.
So.....a play by play of our week from flight to flight...not in detail but the basics. (My parents were with us this year, my cousins followed on another flight)
Flight from Toronto, chaotic, annoying, stressful, expensive but once we took off with Sunwing....relaxation.
Arrival at Cayo Coco airport, fast, easy, simple as always.
Onto the bus, grab some Cerveza, on our way.
Arrive at hotel to friendly faces welcoming us back. Check in to the rooms that we have booked ahead of time as we like our room. My parents room had been changed but we were assured it would be changed the next day. Our room was perfect. Arrive at moms room and it hadn't been cleaned, dirty towels on the floor, sheets on the floor.....back to the front desk, the sent a maid and it was cleaned and ready for us once we had our first drink. My room key didn't work so had to go back to front desk to get it fixed, finally get in, my husband grabbed the wrong luggage at the airport and I had a mans suitcase.....no clothes! Hmm what to do? Go ask at front desk and told they will look after it in the morning. Few drinks and off to bed.
Wearing same clothes the next day wake up to palm trees, ocean, heat, friendly staff.......roll up my pants and enjoy. Took us until the afternoon to find my suitcase and had to pay 40 CUC to go pick it up at another hotel 40 mins away by taxi. The other couple was happy to have their luggage as well. Back to the hotel, change, walk, drink, eat, sweat.....LOVE!
Toilet broke, mosquitoes bit, husband got sick....blah blah blah!
Ok play by play over....you get the point. There are some negative things about Cuba. There are so many more positive things about Cuba to focus on.
What I learned about why we continue to go back is that we have a positive attitude about everything we experience there. We go to Cuba with the knowledge and expectation that it is a different culture and that a 4 star hotel in Cuba is a 1 star in Canada. The food is good, it takes time for our bodies to change to any foods that are cooked outside of our culture......bit of culture shock we expect.
If you leave Canada expecting to have a perfect room that provides pampering like the tropical vacation commercials you will be sadly disappointed.
Cuba is amazing. The people are amazing, the hotel is amazing, the food is amazing, the short time we are blessed to spend there every year is AMAZING! We come home every year with sores on our skin, happy to have food cooked in our own kitchen but we dont pay attention to those things while we are there. We enjoy CUBA as it is.
What I noticed this year is that the people who were complaining seemed to have the impression that they are superior to Cuban people; that Cuban people should be catering to us. Yes their job is to serve us, make us happy and comfortable while we are there but I for one am thankful that they do that in Cuban style not Canadian style.....otherwise why would I go there? They do everything on Cuban time, in Cuban culture and we LOVE it. If you want Canadian tropics, wait until July and stay home. If you want a winter break thats hot, comfortable, beautiful and cultural....go to Cuba. (Don't bang your mug on the bar like the bartender should run to you before the 12 people ahead of you like you are more important and complain that they are slow, they are doing a great job serving hundreds every day and they smile all the time)
Its all in the attitude. We have had many small and large inconveniences in our 10 years going there. We address them quickly and dont let it spoil our trip, we only have seven days, dont waste any minutes you dont have too. We laugh them off, make the best of everything and enjoy every second.
This year there was a couple that was complaining that they had spent the first 4 days of their vacation changing rooms and hadn't had time to relax yet, they wanted their money back. The way I see it is, make the best of your room (unless it is horrific but they are all pretty much the same there) you spend the last amount of awake time there anyway. Don't choose to spend your whole vacation trying force the hotel to meet you expectations. Throw the expectations out the window and appreciate what there is in every present moment.
Sol Cayo Guillermo is may favourite place to go and I hope I am blessed enough to get to go there every year for many more. We have made many friends that we miss all year and look forward to seeing when we get to go back.
Attitude and expectations can make or
break your vacation. You pay for it, enjoy! And bottom line if you expect high end pampering, dont go to Cuba.
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