Hi Judith, since you were there in 2007 they have started to refurbish it and apparently they do now usually put overseas visitors into the refurbished rooms. I can vouch for the fact that over that time, the public areas, including the loos at the back of reception, have improved but it still has a long way to go before it becomes a soulless modern palace. As ever in Cuba any building work takes for ever

To be honest, I'm not sure that it ever had a heyday in its days as a hotel. It was originally the family home of the Granda family and I understood that it only became a hotel after they emigrated, following the Revolution I assume, at which point the building was taken over by the state. The family had reputably fallen on hard times even before then so I suspect that it has been rather shabby for quite a long time even before it was converted into a hotel.

If you want comfort then the Hotel Santiago is definitely miles better but it is most certainly a soulless modern palace and taxi ride from the centre. That said, I have to admit that when I am in the city, if I feel the need for some time out from Cuban life, I do hop in a taxi and spend the day lazing around the pool there. Bizarrely, the architect who designed it was said to have taken his inspiration from a sugar mill and the local joke is that the best thing about staying in the Santiago is that from the inside of it you can't see the outside of it.

SM

!Hola ! ?Que tal?
A bit of a spooky moment here as I was going to post in a similiar vein to ukbill ( shame we are not there the same time) I thought there was a overnighter to santiago but no uk company or other site I have found seem to offer it ...will have a look at SMas linksas I think I have beenlooking at the "rogue" site discussed on TA .

I was going to ask how feasible it was to arrange an independant trip as SMa paints a great picture and a day would not be enough ( been listening BV social club last few days !) . If we are going to do it alone would it be reasonablr to arrange in resort and as it would be hopefully Carnival would everywhere be booked up? If we "go it alone" would love to try a Casa I have basic Spanish , use ir and o verbs etc but as I said basic but really want to go to Santiago de Cuba .
Many thanks again SMa - you are a tresaure .. whatever we do and wherever we end up I am sure we will enjoy la isla bella
Gracias
Lally

Once you get to SRLM there are lots of tour operaters who do trips ,Even those offered by the canadian ones I'm sure wouldnt turn down business . I'm sure TC offered one to Santiago.

You would probably be better to ask at reception though . They really couldnt be more helpful there and i'm sure they will sort you out . There is an email address doing the rounds on TA of a lady called wendy . Think she is customer relations and seems to go out of her way to make sure guests have a wonderful time .

I think it may be worth an email ahead to her

Thanks Lyn
I can see 1 day trips on offer but not the 2 days. Didn't think about the Canadian operators , just the UK and Cuban ones.
I will e mail ahead and see what they say at SRLYM
Lynne

Hi Lynne, Carnaval tends not to attract that many out-of-towners either and I doubt that hotels will be fully booked up. However, the best casas do tend to get booked up during Carnaval and/or have family staying with them who come back to visit at that time so won't have the room for paying guests.

Have you been to Cuba before? If you have and are familiar with the Cuban way of doing things then a Casa could be the way to go - it's what I nearly always do - but during Carnaval I wouldn't just turn up in the city without something arranged. You could end up doing a lot of trudging around because there is no centralised booking system or agency for them - there isn't a tourist information office in the centre of town that could find you a bed. Kath at Caledonia Langauges (as above) has good local contacts and could probably book you something from this end but Havanatour are likely to push you in the direction of the hotels rather than a Casa.

However, if you haven't been to Cuba before then I think that you could do a lot worse than do as Lynwestie suggests, that is to either do it through the hotel in advance or a rep once there. The customer service at the SRLM sounds excellent and they won't want you coming back after the trip complaining to them and would hence have an incentive in making sure that they sorted you out with something suitable or at least pointed you in the right direction of a someone who could and whom they trust. You can't be the first person who's wanted to do an overnight stop - as I said, I've met tourists who were doing just that. The big advantage of doing it as a booked excursion - either as part of a group on a more tailor-made basis - is that your transfers will be arranged without you having the hassle of negotiating with a taxi or spending a lot of time dealing with the public transport system.

SM

PS BVSC play Son not Salsa so ask around for where you can hear a band that plays good 'classic' Son and that's where you'll hear that style of music. If you love the BV Social Club sound then head for the Casa de Trova - the home of Son - or Artex where an all-women's band regularly plays Son, Both are on Heredia just a few hundred yards from the Casagranda. And if you are interested in seeing a professional performance of traditional Cuban dance styles, then ask if Cutumba are performing in the city on the night of your stay. Their houseband is brilliant and the dancers amongst the best in Cuba! But then I as biased as this is the company that I take classes with when over there

Thanks again to SMa for all advice posted on HT.
I intend to printout chunks of this stuff and take it with me since there's lots of useful info.

Continuing my research to check whether I can overnight at to Fiesta del Caribe in Santiago while I'm staying in Guardalavaca,
and book it in advance, I've just come across some more info which doesn't help me this time unfortunately, but might help someone else.

First I tried Emailing cubanacan at
sales@cubanacan.co.uk
and
reservations@cubanacan.co.uk
both uk email addresses posted on their website.
Both emails failed, saying that mailboxes don't exist.

I also emailed the havanatour uk email address asking whether they could help, but no reply.

Then I did some more Googling, and found that someone has posted (on another website) TUI and TC prices for 2009 for a Santiago "overnight" excursion. Even though prices quoted were over £100 per person (a bit high?) this sounded worth more investigation, but then I noticed that they both go on Saturday only - which, while it would be wonderful since Saturday 9th July 2011 is apparently the final night of the Fiesta, sadly I have to fly home on 10th July - so timings couldn't work.

So back to square one - and see what cubatur can do for me when I arrive in Guardalavaca.

Hi ukbill,

I'd give it a bit of time yet - though both Cubanacan and Havanatour have UK offices, they are still Cuban Government owned businesses and have, shall we say, a tendency to function on Cuban timescales on occasions. I'm not sure just how big an office Cubanacan actually maintains here in the UK - I know that they have an address by Millwall docks on their website but I thought that this was little more than a registered office to give them a UK presence. If you can, it can sometimes be better to phone.

Yes, £100pp does sound a bit on the expensive side but don't forget that this is going to be an excursion marketed by TUI and TC but provided by Cubatur or one of the other state-owned agencies. There's two profit margins plus commission to the TUI/TC rep who sells it coming out of that. And it's probably for staying in the Hotel Santiago which has the highest room rates out of the hotels in the area. By dealing direct once you get there, there's a good chance that you'll find that you are quoted a lower price. Or that for the same price, you could do it on a different day and have the the P Carrier to yourselves.

The good thing about the Cuban travel agencies is that if they say a tour will run, it will run - even if there's only one of you as in my case. If I had booked my tour with a UK TO I'm sure it would have been cancelled rather them than running it for just one person. Instead, I had a very personalised individual tour and once the guide realised that it wasn't my first time in eastern Cuba he started changing round the itinerary and offering to take me places that were more off the usual tourist trail and cutting out the sights on route that I was already familiar with. So don't give up just because it is only advertised for a Saturday.

But, yes, probably best to wait until you get there and then make contact with Cubatur but Cubans are very proud of their cultural heritage. Make a friend of the rep, let them know that you are particularly keen to not only go to Santiago but to see something of the fiesta and you might well find that they'll put something together for you earlier in the week. It's just a shame you'll miss out on the burning of the devil BUT I'm assuming that you're flying back from Holguin? And is it not usually an overnight flight home to the UK? It's just a thought but it might be worth asking if they could arrange for you to go straight from Santiago on the Sunday to the airport at Holguin? Holguin being actually nearer to Santiago than Guardalavaca? It would mean packing up and checking out of the hotel on the Saturday and taking everything with you to Santiago but you might think it worth it.

SM

Thanks again !
Its our first visit so more than happy to go on an organised tour but wherever we go we do try to get out a bit. Thats why if we do manage an overnighter then we would prefer to entertain ourselves rather than go to the Tropicana for instance. Yes wherever we end up is likely to be touristy but hopefully with a bit of local flavour, Son or Salsa , we enjoy both. I understand what you say about the Casa' being full or taking some time out
I have e mailed the sol rio and when i get a reply I willl share with ukbill and anyone else interested .
Whatever we will enjoy !
Lynne

Yes wherever we end up is likely to be touristy but hopefully with a bit of local flavour,

And that's why I and the friends I usually go with so love Santiago - it's a lot less touristy than Havana and Carnaval is definitely when the locals let their hair down rather than it being something put on for the tourists. Loads of street parties thronged by locals so plenty of local atmosphere - take the same precautions that you would if going to Notting Hill Carnaval etc - and don't be tempted by the very cheap beer being sold from big bowsers on street corners and you'll be OK. It makes my brother's homebrew in his student days look and taste good - which is saying something I can tell you! Stick to cans such as Crystal or Buccanero from the temporary counters set up in the streets by proper bars. Lord knows how and from what the other stuff is made from in people's back yards etc!

SM

Hi
Here is the prompt reply from SRLYM It would be a pleasure for us to do it, but the hotel does not sell guided tours. Nevertheless, there are many tour operators desks in the lobby, who will be more than happy to help you arrange this tour for you. If you prefer to do it on your own, we can help you find a taxi to take you, help you book a hotel there. That is no problem at all.

Hope this helps you as well ukbill
Lynne

Sounds like one way or another you're sorted! Enjoy!

SM

Cheers mate

Hi Lynne and Ukbill,

By my calculations you should both be back from your recent trips to Cuba. I'm dying to know how you got on and, if I'm honest having just re-read my earlier posts to you both on this thread, a little anxious that it mightn't have lived up to any expectations I created out of my own enthusiasm.

As things turned out, I wasn't able to get out there this summer but I'm hoping to go February/March 2012. The only cure for the withdrawal symptoms that I'm experiencing at the moment is to get the planning for the next trip underway

SM

Hola !
Back today
Had a great time and will certaininly return . Resort was wonderful and we made an effort to get out and about .
We made it to Santiago , tour ops do run an overnighter on the sat /sun (160 CUC inc food and some drinks)
Casa de la Trove is now where they take you at night - FAB !
Stayed at the Melia Santiago which was nice but hada few drinks on the roof bar at the Casa Grande which was amazing
Thank you for your help - i felt much more informed ( i printed all your replies out !)
Will do a full review inc the Santiago part soon
Lynne

So pleased that you had a good time and managed to get to Santiago. And, yes, the roof bar at the Casagrande is amazing - the view down to the harbour and across the bay to the mountains is superb. I'll look forward to reading your review once you've get the chance to do it.

SM

Welcome home lynne . So pleased you enjoyed . Looking forward to reading your review and seeing some pics.

Thanks both
just rereading some of the posts and just wanted to say that even if tours are under subsribed by UK standards they do indeed run as sma said.
On our trip to Santiago there was only us and a dutch couple with 2 young children so it was nearly as good as a private tour (app most people favour the day trip). The other party were not able to go out to Casa de Trove due to the age of the children so we had our guide to ourselves - very useful when eldest got carried away by rum, music and attention of the local boys !!
SMa - i can see why you love Santiago, very vibrant with a buzz I can,t begin to describe. We missed Carnaval but the decorations were up in the square and you could see and hear some preperations from the roof of the Melia Santiago. I was expecting more "hassle" but what there was, was very low key compared to other places we have been.
Will do reviews once washing finished !!

Lynne

Hi Lallygirl and Ukbill - just been catching up with your hotel reviews.

Glad that you weren't disappointed in your choice of hotel, Lallygirl, and I agree with you that the view from the bar at the top of the Sol Melia in Santiago is great but I think we'd both agree that it isn't a patch on the roof top bar in the Casa Grande?

It sounds as if the Coste Verde in Guardelavaca is one to avoid UKbill - shame that it did not live up to its 4* rating. As for the crabs it might be that their appearance after the storm was coincidental if, as I suspect, they were land crabs, - perhaps living in that swamp aka the 'eco' area. In which case 300m would be no obstacle to them anyway because they can travel miles when migrating!

Did they look like this?

http://www.hawkinsimages.co.uk/photo_5099261.html#photos_id=5099261

Or perhaps this?

http://www.worldofstock.com/slides/NFI1578.jpg

They do come in other colours too. Generally, in the spring rains they migrate from damp woodland areas to the sea to mate, then back to the forest while the eggs develop, then the females do it all again few weeks later to lay their eggs in the water and a few weeks later still the young emerge from the sea and head back inland. I think that it will have been too late in the year for them to be part of the migration from land to the sea for mating or the one made by the females to lay their eggs but it might have been the tail end of the migration of the young ones back into the damp forest areas where they spend most of their lives living in sort of burrows or tunnels between breeding seasons. YouTube has loads of video footage of them on the move - and they can move very fast.

Unfortunately, they are inedible because they contain a toxin - otherwise they'd be on every Cuban 'plancha' menu I'm sure! In some areas eg around the Bay of Pigs, they've become a bit of a tourist attraction in themselves because in the spring rains they migrate in their thousands to the beaches, surmounting almost any obstacles in their paths because they can even climb vertical walls in their singleminded dash to the sea but I don't think that this is the only area that they are found in. They can even be found on some of the cayos Though I can't say that I'd fancy waking up to find them around my bed either

SM

Hi Sma,

Did they look like this?
http://www.hawkinsimages.co.uk/photo_50 ... id=5099261

Yes, the image from hawkinsimages was exactly the little fellows we had sharing the hotel Playa Costa Verde. It was the sheer numbers of them which was the most amazing, and yes, they quite happily were climbing vertical walls.
The bigger ones weren't particularly scared of humans, when threatened, they didn't run away, they turned to face you and waved their claws quite aggressively!

Actually, apart from the hygiene issues in the main restaurant , PVC is a nice hotel with a lovely layout. It would suit most families really well.
It just needs management in the buffet restaurant to fix the issues there, and in the snack bar.

Personally, now I'm ancient with daughter grown, graduated, and gone, I prefer hotels with less
- or even zero - kids around. Though I've got good memories of the PVC "Beer Corner" which I reckon is a great idea.

I've decided already I want to go back to Cuba in 2012 and I've just booked the Blau Varadero
- I always book way ahead! Even further from Santiago I know, but there's lots of other places in Cuba over to the west I'd like to go see if it's possible.